Insecurities
by Lion warrior
Summary: Po struggles to write a story for his legacy, but a rebellion comes up at the hand of Zheng-Hau, a masterful weapons fighter. Po tries to find a way to reason with the former Jade Palace servant, but his own words may soon haunt him. Reviewing helps me do better.
1. Chapter 1

Insecurities

**Don't Own Kung Fu panda... yet. **

**Not related to Adventures of Chaos**

* * *

The panda looked at the ceiling from his seat. His arm was propped up on the desk in his room. A feather in his hand hung low to the ground while he still looked up. "Ugh, why is this so hard to do?" Po grumbled. Master Shifu asked the panda to write a book of things that could help people in the village to excel in life. Of course, the red panda failed to mention to Po that everyone in China would be getting their hands on this book. It could be a story, a list of proverbs or wise sayings, like Sun Tzu, or some autobiographical book. While Po could very easily write a book on whatever he pleases, he couldn't figure out how to even start this one. "UGH!" Po slammed the feather on the table and got up from the chair. He needed some air. The panda walked over to the kitchen to see Monkey and Crane.

"Hey, Po! What's up?"

"Nothing," Po said dismayed, getting a bowl of bean buns and stuffing them into his mouth. Both the crane and monkey sighed.

"You're upset."

"No, I'm not," Po muttered through the mouthful of bean buns. They all knew it was a lie. Po gulped down his food. "Okay, I am."

"What's the matter?" Crane asked.

"It's the book," Po explained, "I don't know what to put in it."

"Well, I'm sure that something will come up," Crane said hopefully. "Besides, you don't have to make the book all in one day."

"Really?"

"Yeah, Po," Monkey laughed. "No one said that it had to be done by tomorrow."

"Well, that's what Master Shifu made it sound like," Po muttered. "Where are the two Ts?"

"Where do you think?" Crane sighed. Po rolled his eyes with a smile. He knew where the two were.

The infamous Tai-Lung had been reformed from the Spirit Realm. Although he was still a hand full for Po, he managed to get the seal of approval from the panda when he started saving his life multiple times. Tigress had a longer time to get used to the snow leopard being around, but they finally managed to work agreeable teamwork. They had gotten better at not killing each other. One could actually be fooled into thinking that they actually cared for one another. "I'll make sure they're okay."

"You don't trust Tigress to take care of herself?" Monkey asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I do," Po said, getting up, "But making sure she DOESN'T kill Tai-Lung is a different story." Po left the group to go to the Training Hall. Opening the doors, he saw the snow leopard and the tiger fighting it out with Viper and Mantis on the sidelines. The panda walked over to the two green animals. "How long have they been sparring?"

"Since this morning," Viper replied. "It's weird how these two go at it." It was true. It seemed like with Tai-Lung, Tigress could go all out and take it. Tigress jumped up, sending a powerful punch into Tai-Lung's blocked arm. The snow leopard jumped out of the way, quickly rushing the tiger from the side. Tigress blocked his kick with her leg, smirking at the snow leopard's attempt as she forced him back with an open palmed blow. Tai-Lung smirked cockily as they finally separated and bowed to each other. Po was glad that they finally got over their differences and were now working towards training each other. They could even be something more.

...

..

.

Insecurities creep up on us like a viper mixed with a spider. Lurking in the shadows, subtly waiting. Bad things always get us in a subtle way. A thought. A simple thought whispered to the ear but works its way into the messy works of our brains. Just a small thought. Po's smile disappeared at the thought. The thought rambled around his brain, jumping from place to place in his memories and thought patterns. He looked down at his belly and a frown formed on his face. When the two cats came over to him, he disappeared to his room. Tai-Lung was concerned.

"Where's the panda going?" Tai-Lung asked. Viper and Mantis didn't even notice Po left until the slam of the door called their attention. Viper and Mantis looked at each other.

"He's probably hungry again," Mantis guessed. Tigress and Viper nodded, but Tai-Lung didn't seem to believe it.

"Well, it seems that you two are getting better every day," Viper smiled. "It's nice that you aren't fighting each other."

"And tearing the Training Hall down," Mantis muttered, making the two cats growl. Tai-Lung suddenly smirked, however.

"Well, you know, someone has to make sure that the kitten is taken care of," Tai-Lung chuckled. Tigress glared at the snow leopard. She quickly kicked the back of his legs, making him stumble to the floor.

"Ah! My back!" Tai-Lung grunted.

"Hmm," Tigress muttered, pulling him up again. "That should teach you not to put your foot in your mouth, Spots," She teased, making the snow leopard grumble. Viper and Mantis looked at each other a bit uneasily. It was a bit concerning how they talked to each other, sometimes. The others couldn't tell if they were persecuting each other or complimenting each other. They weren't fighting each other, so it must be okay, right? Viper sighed. "So, did Po say anything about the book he's writing?"

"No, I don't know why he was here and then just left," Viper replied. Tai-Lung looked back at the door, questioning what the panda was doing.

Later on in the day, the Tai-Lung, Crane, and Tigress walked down to patrol the village. Several women giggled, waving flirtatious hands at Tai-Lung. Tigress rolled her eyes as Tai-Lung smirked back. "What's bothering you, Kitten?"

"Nothing," Tigress answered plainly. Tai-Lung decided to tease her.

"You wouldn't be jealous, would you?" Tai-Lung smirked. Crane stepped back a bit, knowing things were about to get dangerous. Tigress stopped in her tracks, looking at him with a dangerous grin.

"And you would be willing to date a woman much younger than you?" Tigress smirked. Tai-Lung only shrugged as Tigress walked closer to him. "I don't know if you would be able to handle me."

"I've fought the Dragon Warrior and survived countless battles. I think I can handle one woman," Tai-Lung smirked.

"Um... for the awkward bird in the group," Crane spoke up, "Can we just keep on with the patrol and not have things so... tense?" Both cats laughed at Crane's statement and continued with their walk. "Hmm, maybe Po's at Mr. Ping's shop."

"It's possible. Let's go see," Tigress said. They turned the corner to go to Mr. Ping's shop and they saw that he wasn't there. No panda insight, other than Li-Shan. "Hm."

"Okay, now I'm worried," Tai-Lung grumbled under his breath. "Where is he?" Tigress walked up to the duck and panda running the shop.

"Excuse me, Mr. Ping? Mr. Li-Shan?"

"Ah, Master Tigress! Come for some food? 25% off for Kung Fu masters," Mr. Ping excitedly said.

"Maybe we could stay for a while for food. I mean, that's a good price," Tai-Lung suggested after hearing the duck, making Tigress's eyes roll.

"We were wondering if you saw Po today," Tigress said. The panda and goose looked at each other in confusion.

"No, we haven't. Is something wrong?" Li-Shan asked.

"No, we were just having wondering. He's probably up in the Jade Palace and we didn't see him there," Tai-Lung mentioned. Li-Shan seemed skeptical.

"How do you NOT see a giant panda?" He asked.

"Trust me," Tigress muttered, thinking about all they had lost track of Po before, "It happens. Thank you Mr. Li-Shan, Mr. Ping."

"Anytime." The three of them walked out of the shop, perplexed.

"I'm almost certain that we didn't see Po on the palace grounds," Tai-Lung mentioned.

"He's not in his room, kitchen, not the shop. Where is he?" Crane questioned. Tigress thought about it for a while.

"He has to write that book, right? It's possible that he's in the Jade Palace archives," Tigress suggested. Tai and Crane looked at each other in doubt. "It's possible, not likely."

"It's worth a shot," Tai-Lung sighed as they walked up to the Jade Palace steps. Surprisingly, they saw the panda, reviewing some scrolls. "Huh, this was not what was expecting." Tigress walked up carefully to him.

"Po?" The panda must have jumped all the way up to the high ceiling above, which was about 50 feet tall.

"Oh, it's just you guys," Po nervously said, going back to reading the scrolls.

"What are you doing?" Tigress asked.

"I'm running over some techniques. I just wanted to know something about pandas in the scrolls," Po replied.

"Like what?" Tai asked.

"I don't know yet, but I'll tell you when I'm done," Po answered, ending the conversation. Tigress and Tai looked at each other while Crane walked around archives, seemingly trying to figure out something himself.

"O...kay," Tai-Lung finally said as the three went out. "Well, that was weird."

"Hmm, I wonder what he was reviewing," Tigress questioned.

"Weaponry."

"Huh?" Tai and Tigress said.

"Weaponry," Crane replied, "The category that he was reviewing was weaponry. Different techniques and uses for different weapons."

"That's weird," Tigress said. For a moment, the three of them couldn't figure out why Po was doing this. Tai-Lung, for one, was worried. It showed so greatly that Tigress picked up on it. "What's wrong?"

"Huh? Nothing. I'm... I'm just thinking," The snow leopard replied with worry in his voice. Tigress smirked a bit.

"Are you worried about Po?" Tigress replied. The snow leopard quirked his eyebrow up a bit. He didn't expect Tigress to joke about it. He simply shrugged. "Po will be fine."

"I hope so."

"Why are you so worried?" Crane asked. Tai-Lung didn't answer. Meanwhile, Po looked over the scrolls of weaponry, looking back at the shiny reflective wall facing his back. He stood up, walked over to the slightly obscure mirror and sighed, looking at his body's shape and figure.

"I don't think I'll find what I need here," Po sighed, shaking his head and moving on to the next lot of scrolls. "I'll find it. Somehow." But even he didn't know what he was looking for.

**Continued...**

**This is going to be a different kind of confusing.**

**Stories now on Wattpad. Please support a struggling writer. **


	2. To Overcome

To Overcome

* * *

Tigress was up at the crack of dawn. She yawned as she walked down the corridors of the Hall of Heroes when she heard loud snoring from another part of the hall with a pile of scrolls sprawled on the floor. "What the?" Tigress looked inside and saw Po snoring loudly with his head plopped onto a scroll and drooling on it. Tigress rolled her eyes. "Was I like this when I was studying?" Tigress muttered to herself.

"Very much," Said a familiar voice. Tigress's eyes widened as she bowed to her red panda master. "But that doesn't explain why Po has taken a sudden interest in the history of the warriors."

"I thought this was the weaponry section," Tigress spoke. Shifu shook his head.

"Something is wrong with the panda," Shifu mentioned, taking his staff and was about to poke the panda awake. Po's hand quickly grabbed Shifu's staff, jumped up, and went into a fighting stance, wide awake. "Po?"

"Oh! Sorry! Sorry, sorry, sorry," Po apologized, giving Shifu's staff back. "I must have overslept. What time is it?"

"Morning," Tigress answered plainly. Po stretched, yawning in the process. "Why are you studying so hard, Po?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing important. Just... wanted to learn some new Kung Fu moves or you know, some new kind of awesomeness. Hehe. Heh," Po weakly and nervously chuckled but the tiger and red panda continued to stare at him. Po looked at the ground for a moment.

"What's wrong, Po? You haven't been acting right," Tigress replied.

"And what does that look like?" Po asked gruffly, still gazing at the ground. Tigress was about to answer, but Shifu stopped her.

"It seems like you're fighting something, Po. What is it?" asked Shifu. Po sighed, looking up at the ceiling for a long time in silence. Before Shifu or Tigress could say anything else, Po answered,

"Nothing you guys can fix," Po replied, walking out the door. "I'm fine. Just... a little sad."

"Why?" Tigress asked, wondering what could get the normally cheerful panda so upset as to study his heart out. Po simply shrugged, showing he didn't quite know. It was a partial lie, but Po didn't feel like sharing right now. He walked out of the room, leaving the two masters questioning the panda's health. "I'm worried, Master Shifu."

"So am I," Shifu replied, stroking his beard, "But we can not speculate. For now, we need to watch Po careful, make sure he does not do anything... drastic."

"Drastic, Master Shifu?" Tigress asked.

"I fear that this is something that Po is trying to conquer... or escape." He exited the room without further explanation. Later on that day, Tigress and Tai-Lung were talking about Po while walking to the Training Hall.

"I don't understand. The panda has never acted this way before," Tai-Lung mumbled. Tigress sighed, trying to maintain a positive outlook.

"We may be looking too hard into this," Tigress replied. The snow leopard looked at her with a hard stare.

"You and I both know that that is untrue," Tai-Lung answered.

"I'm trying to be positive, Tai-Lung," Tigress growled.

"It will get you killed to be impractical," Tai-Lung grunted back. The tiger growled, but it slowly died down when she remembered who they were primarily concerned for. "The panda needs our help." He vocalized. "That's point-blank."

"But how do we help him if we don't know what's going on?" Tigress asked as Tai-Lung walked a little ahead of her. Tai smirked, gripping the handles to the Training Hall door.

"Hasn't stopped us before." He said confidently. As he opened the doors, the two cats saw a sight that was beyond belief. They saw Po hopping around the Training Hall grounds with a huge load of weights on his backs. He was bouncing from one leg to the next while balancing on the Jade balancing bowl. "And we should probably find a way to help quickly before he breaks his back," Tai commented. Suddenly, Po's face began to strain.

"Oh no," Tigress quickly ran on all fours, darting to the panda. But then the panda threw all of the weights off his back and leaped up to the beams of the hall, away from Tigress. Tigress looked up at the panda who had a slightly angered face. "Po, what's wrong?" Po simply frowned before darting out a small roof opening.

"This is getting worse and worse," Tai-Lung mentioned, walking over to Tigress. The tiger looked at the discarded debris of weights.

"If we don't help him soon, I don't know if his body is going to be able to take it," Tigress said worriedly. Tai-Lung simply slyly smiled a bit at her. "What?" She asked with an upset glare.

"Nothing," Tai-Lung said, throwing his hands up in defense. "But you're here. Which means that the panda will get better."

"Why are you so hopeful that I'll be able to do it?" Tigress questioned. Tai-Lung simply smiled before walking out with Tigress in tow.

* * *

Po was reading over some scrolls. Ancient techniques that hadn't been practiced by many masters. Suddenly, his ear flicked up as he turned his head. "You're getting better at sensing me." Po glared at the snow leopard before studying again. Tai-Lung sighed. There had to be a way to get through to the panda. "You're not going to be able to make it all work if you keep straining yourself. Muscles grow during rest, not strain."

"What?" Po asked, uttering his first words to the snow leopard in a while.

"When I was training, I was training until my bones would break, but often in my meditation, I could feel my muscles growing. That was the time that they were resting and they grew. In the same way, straining yourself to learn everything you want is not going to stick if you don't let your mind rest," Tai-Lung explained. "Besides," He said after a pause, "The world doesn't need another Tigress and Tai-Lung." Po looked at him for a while before going back to his scrolls. Tai-Lung sighed and turned to head out.

"I'm sorry," Po faintly whispered. Tai-Lung's ear flicked up.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm..." Po swallowed thickly. It was as if he was choking his mucus down. "I'm struggling with something that I... just don't feel comfortable with. I know that it-"

"Does it have anything to do with Tigress?" Tai-Lung guessed. Po looked at him. He blinked a few times in confusion.

"No... Well, not specifically," Po shrugged with a sigh. He got up from his chair and let his arms dangle by his sides. "It's just been a very hard day for me." Tai-Lung rose an eyebrow. "What?"

"You've been like this for a whole week, Po," Tai-Lung clarified.

"Oh," Po said surprised and then regressed to his normal nervous goofy grin. "Hehe, sorry." Tai-Lung gave a small smile. "But it's just something that I need to deal with. Besides," Po frowned a bit, "What I want to find isn't here... or anywhere."

"What are you looking for?" Tai-Lung asked.

"A way to overcome," Po whispered. Before Tai-Lung asked, Zeng rushed in, stating that Master Shifu had an urgent message. The two ran over to the Hall of Heroes where the rest were waiting for them. "What's wrong?" Shifu's eyes were stuck to the ground before Po knelt and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Master Shifu?"

"What's the problem, master?" Tigress asked.

"A young man by the name of Zheng-Hau has been gathering a small army. The Emperor has requested our help since his small army is starting to gain many followers," the red panda explained.

"Why is it that problematic?" Viper asked. Shifu seemed conflicted in telling them the truth. "Master?"

"Zheng-Hau... used to work here before he left mysteriously. Zeng hired him when Master Oogway was still alive. I don't have good memories of him, but I do remember him growing more and more... distant as time went on. I never questioned it before then, but now I regret that decision."

"What do you _t__hink_ made him so distant?" Tigress asked. Shifu simply stroked his beard in concerned contemplation. He glanced at Po before staring heavily at the floor.

"Wondering about the past won't get us anywhere," Tai-Lung replied. Shifu looked up from his pondering and nodded with the snow leopard.

"You must go to the region of Li-Fung. Reports say his operations have originated there. Be careful," Shifu warned.

"Why should we worry?" Mantis asked, "It sounds like it's just a villager uprising."

"Still lean on the side of caution," Shifu replied. "Zheng-Hau used to spend a lot of time around the scrolls of weaponry, kung-fu, and strategies. Many of the Emperor's soldiers have commented that Zheng-Hau's army fights like Kung Fu masters."

"We'll do our best, Master Shifu," Tigress bowed. Shifu halted her, Po, and Tai-Lung as the others filed out.

"If there is any way possible to save him, please do. But if not, I want Tai-Lung to end it," Shifu explained. Tigress tried her best to hide her slighted hurt.

"Why, Master Shifu?" Tigress questioned. Tai-Lung gently rested his hand on her shoulder, but Tigress moved her shoulder out of his range. Shifu sighed.

"Tai-Lung has... crossed some lines that no one here has crossed... intentionally," Shifu replied. Tigress slowly nodded in acceptance, letting Tai-Lung rest his hand on her shoulder this time. "Be careful with him."

"Yes, Master Shifu," The three replied.

"Who knows, maybe he's friendly in the end?" Po said with his nervous cheesy grin. Tigress and Tai-Lung looked at him in confusion. "Yeah, I try to be hopeful."

"We'll see what we can do. Zheng-Hau will be defeated, Master Shifu. You have my word," Tigress promised. Shifu simply looked at Tigress and walked away. The feline's gaze lingered on her foster father and then turned towards the door. Po and Tai-Lung at each other. Tai-Lung looked at Po's slightly shocked face in confusion.

"What?"

"N... nothing. I just... realized something," Po replied, looking at Tigress a bit leaving the Hall. Tai-Lung walked closer to him.

"About Tigress?"

"About life," Po stated. Then he laughed at some joke he told himself. "Sorry, I've been so out of lately," said the panda, rubbing the back of his neck. Tai's eyes examined the panda and then shrugged.

"I don't think it's me that needs to hear that," He said pointing to the direction that Tigress left in. Po nodded with a smile and left to find Tigress. "Something must be in the water," Tai-Lung muttered.

* * *

Hares and jackrabbits are different than bunnies. Typically speaking, they are much bigger and have a rougher kind of fur. They are also taller, about three bunnies make up one jackrabbit. One jackrabbit walked down the small dark streets of the village in the Li-Fung region. He used his agility to jump onto the roof of a two-story house. His dark green eyes surveyed the land. There were a lot of avenues and crevices in the dark of the night. His ears, which were taller than a rabbit, coolly folded down his back, flinching up at any kind of noise. "They'll be here soon," He said to himself. His opened his black vest matched his black pocketed pants. Two large swords strapped on his back and two kunais by his sides. The jackrabbit sighed, mixed with several different emotions before reflexing on his past. "It needs to be done." He finally said, putting his black cloak on and covering his head with the hood. "Now the whole world will share in my struggle."

**Continued...**

**Happy New Years**


	3. A Small Seed

A Small Seed

* * *

"Well, it's good to have you back to normal, Po," Tigress replied, gracing a small smile that made the panda give a goofy grin. "However, that still doesn't explain why you were in such a mood in the first place."

"Well, it's kind of complicated," said the now nervous panda.

"Life usually is." Po gave the smirking cat a deadpanned look. He rolled his eyes as they continued walking to the barracks. "So?"

"Oh! Um... it's a little personal," Po replied nervously.

"Tai-Lung got to hear it."

"No, he didn't. Shifu interrupted us before I could tell him," Po replied plainly.

"So there_ is_ something," Tigress noted. Po threw his hands up in exhaustive defeat.

"What is it that you want me to say?" Po stopped, turning to Tigress. Tigress crossed her arms and looked at him, calculatedly.

"I just want to know that you're okay," Tigress replied honestly. Po smiled, resting his hand on her shoulder.

"I will be," Po promised as he left her at the kitchen of the barracks.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to go find something. If Zheng-Hau is as good as Shifu says, I need to make sure I have some kind of advantage."

"He was a servant. How difficult can he be?" Tigress asked confidently. Po shrugged as he walked backward.

"Not everything is as it seems," Po replied as he walked out of sight. Tigress sighed before walking into the kitchen with Crane and Monkey.

"Still being elusive?" Monkey asked.

"No, he's better, but I don't think he's telling me everything," Tigress replied, sitting down to her usual tofu meal. "Anyways, do we know why Zheng-Hau is doing this?"

"Well," Tai-Lung joined in, walking into the kitchen. "I did some asking around in the village. Apparently, he's been making war with many of the officials of the region. He's even amassed an army big enough to challenge the official of the providence. Zeng said that he came around the time that you guys became the Furious Five. He left about 2 years afterward." Tigress nodded but turned her head to the side a bit in a questioning look. "I didn't ask Shifu because I figured he was feeling guilty about him."

"Why?"

"He mentioned something about seeing Zheng-Hau's decline," Tai answered Tig. "Zeng told me he looked like one of the bunnies when he was young, which is why you guys didn't really notice him. Shifu may feel guilty about letting Zheng-Hau get to this state." Tigress nodded. She was feeling a little guilty as well. She remembered a little of the young bunny, but she didn't know it was him. Besides, they had a lot of servants other than Zeng.

"So, he's planning coup d'états? That can't be a good sign," Crane mentioned.

"Well, we'll be able to stop them easily," Monkey said carefreely.

"There is a problem," Tai-Lung started ominously. "Zheng-Hau's army is full of villagers, mostly bunnies, gazelles, pigs, and ducks. It's going to be difficult to figure out who's for us or against us." Tigress looked at him with a serious glare and nodded.

"What about Po?"

"Hmmm?" Tai-Lung's eyebrow rose at the bird's question.

"Sneaking in is going to be the goal, but what about Po? He's going to be noticed," Crane said plainly. Tai-Lung looked at Tigress.

"I think we'll _all_ be noticed," Tigress sighed pessimistically, looking at Tai-Lung who nodded, "We'll have to figure out something." Meanwhile, Master Shifu was meditating at the Tree of Heavenly Wisdom.

"Master Shifu?" Po asked, walking up to the tree.

"Ah, Po. It's good to see you're doing better," Shifu smiled, getting up from the ground and turning towards the panda. Po sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Was I that depressing?"

"No, Po," Shifu replied humorously, "We were just worried. We didn't want you to suffer if we could help. I wouldn't want you doing something you'll regret." Shifu's frowned a bit. "Especially if I could stop it."

"Aaaaand that's why I'm here," Po said. "What was Zheng-Hau like? What did he look like, and why did he leave?" Shifu looked at the ground, turned around, and watched the sunsetting. "Um... if this is a cool 'master stares at the sun' thing, could you do it a little faster?" Shifu looked back with a raised eyebrow. "Hehe, no rush, but I don't want you to get stuck in your own head," Po nervously chuckled.

"Hmm," Shifu mumbled. "I don't know why Zheng-Hau left, but I do remember him fondly." Shifu smiled a bit. "He was quiet but very kind and sweet. He was around your age, but a bit older. I'm actually quite surprised that he's turned into this. Master Oogway always said that I should talk to him, but I.. I was too blinded by my issue with Tai-Lung. Plus, I never... really bonded to Zheng-Hau other than the awkward conversations that he would have."

"What kind of talks made it weird?" Po asked, sitting down. Shifu paced around as he remembered.

"He was so intrigued by the weapons we used. The swords, the blades, katanas, he could name any of them right of the top of his head. It was kind of unnerving when you realize he could really cause harm if he wanted to."

"Hmm," Po nodded.

"Anyway, he was very much into fighting with weapons, stealth, and secrecy. I remember it was his dream to become to be the best swordsmen in China," Shifu explained.

"Did he have any family in the village?"

"He had one relative, but when he mysteriously disappeared, the relative died."

"So it couldn't have been the death of someone to cause him to get this way," Po noticed. Shifu shook his head.

"No, his attitude started to change way before that. He became more depressed. Master Oogway tried his best to cheer him up, but it didn't seem to work."

"What about you?" Po asked, causing Shifu to break his pacing. "What did you do?" Shifu sighed.

"I... I decided it was best not to interfere, but looking back on it… I fear I was just scared of interacting with him in that state," Shifu replied. "Besides, after dealing with the loss of Tai-Lung, I wasn't really at peace with myself."

"You guys weren't friends?" Po asked surprised and a little upset when Shifu shook his head. "There's something else that's making you worried about Zheng-Hau. Something that you haven't told anyone else." Shifu was silent for a moment before turning back to the sun. Po rolled his eyes, got up, sat in front of Shifu, blocking his view of the sun. Shifu rolled his eyes at the panda's pouting face. He could be stubborn when he wanted to be. The red panda sighed.

"Po, when your attitude started to change all of a sudden, it reminded me of Zheng-Hau," Shifu replied, surprising Po, "That's why I was so worried about you. I didn't want what happened to Zheng-Hau to happen to you." Po smiled widely.

"Don't worry, Shifu. I've learned my lesson," Po replied.

"And what's that?"

"Don't worry about it," Po smiled. "But what did he look like?"

* * *

The jackrabbit walked down the twilight corners of the Mung village in the region of Li-Fung. His gray fur could hardly be distinguished in the red light of the sunset. The jackrabbit watched the sun go down, shrugging his shoulders. He expected the masters to be here by now, but he could deal with not having to worry about it. It had been about two months since he started this movement. His army had already captured the official and his army. Some of the army went to the hare's side, enlarging his own army. "So far, it was a good day."

"Zheng-Hau!"

"AHH!" the jackrabbit jumped about 20 feet before landing back down. Zheng-Hau gripped his chest and looked at the female hare in her own small clad armor. She was two inches shorter than him. The jackrabbit rolled his eyes. "Lin, don't scare me like that! What if I had cut you?" The hare smirked confidently.

"Come on, I know you wouldn't do that. I trust you." Zheng-Hau still rolled his eyes. "I just came to tell you that some of the scouts are preparing to survey the southern part of the region."

"Near the Jade Palace," Zheng-Hau finished. The hare nodded. "Good, that will help us figure out when and how they'll come."

"Do you think we'll be able to fight them off?" Lin asked. Zheng-Hau knew the Kung Fu of the masters were unrivaled, especially since the news of the Dragon Warrior had reached him when he was off in the very Northern part of China. But if he knew the Jade Palace masters, he knew how to hold them off.

"We'll either make them see our way, or we'll defeat them," Zheng-Hau said, pulling out one of the swords on his back, proving his point. Lin was confident behind him. Lin was about to leave before stopping again when she saw someone coming towards them.

"Oh, I forgot!" Lin jumped up excitedly, pulling Zheng-Hau's arm. The jackrabbit rolled his eyes in annoyance as Lin showed him a ruby red female fox with a green vest and dark jade pants. "This is Yun. She's decided to join us in our revolution."

"Not revolution, Lin," Zheng sighed, "Just proving a point."

"Like I said. Revolution!" Lin shouted. Zheng-Hau sighed as he bowed before the fox. The fox seemed surprised that the head of this revolution would bow to her.

"Hello, Mrs. Yun. As Lin has already told you, I'm the head of this movement. I hope to see you when we state our point to the masters of the Jade Palace," Zheng said respectfully. The fox smiled warmly as she bowed as well.

"Thank you, but please, just Yun," The fox smiled.

"Well, I'll leave you to get acquainted with our new strategist."

"Strategist?" Zheng-Hau asked Lin.

"I happen to be the Official's former bookkeeper and advisor. Strategy has always been my strength," the fox said proudly. Zheng-Hau smiled.

"Well, I hope that you'll be able to see us to victory."

"And what kind of victory is that?" Yun asked, placing her hand powerfully on her hip.

"To make sure the people have a bigger voice. That the common man is able to be unoppressed so that we can have a free rule. So that the little man will not be little anymore!" Lin shouted in crescendo. Zheng-Hau and Yun stared at her for a while in confusion. Zheng rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"Basically, we're trying to overthrow the officials that are letting bigger species, unlike us, to both rule over us and protect us. That and these very officials have done nothing to help with the bandit crisis. We can not rely on Kung Fu masters to bail us out all of the time. We need to defend ourselves, even if it is against the law." It was illegal for villagers to protect themselves in fear of rebellions like the one Zheng-Hau was starting.

"Okay, I think I can get behind that," Yun replied.

"Excellent!" Lin said with a bound of energy. "I'll go and make sure that everyone is okay for tomorrow!" Lin raced off.

"She's very... energetic," the fox said.

"She's a hare," Zheng chuckled, looking at the fox at eye-level. "What did you expect?" Yun smiled back. "Yeah, but she's very supportive." Zheng-Hau smiled with a far-off look. Yun noticed this.

"You like her?"

"Iii... I can't worry about any love relationships right now," Zheng-Hau replied. "For now, my goal is to make sure that the people can defend themselves and change that law that says we can not." Yun nodded as Zheng-Hau walked away, letting her eyes linger on him a little bit before shaking her head and walking away.

**Continued...**


	4. Jack of All Trades

Jack of all Trades

* * *

The Furious Five, Tai-Lung, and Po packed their bags for their journey. Tai noticed a large amount of stuff in Po's backpack. "Po, do you really need that much food for your afternoon snack?" Tai-Lung asked, causing the others to laugh a bit.

"Huh? Oh!" Po remembered, putting the stuff down to show the rest of the team, "It's not food. It's actually some scrolls for the nights."

"What are they?" Tigress asked.

"Oh... um... just some scrolls from the Jade Palace. Nothing you guys haven't seen," Po explained, a bit nervous to show them as he packed up his stuff and started off ahead of them. The team was confused a bit but just dismissed it as Po's usual weirdness. Later that night, the gang camped and went to sleep. Just as Tigress was about to sleep, she noticed a small light inside of Po's tent. She walked over to it.

"Po?"

"AH! Oh, it's just you Tigress," sighed the panda as he opened the tent door.

"What are you doing?" she asked. Po thought about it for a moment before letting the tiger inside the tent.

"I'm reading some of the scrolls from the Jade Palace."

"What are the scrolls about?" Tigress asked.

"They're about using weapons and other stuff. Smoke bombs, explosives, swords, you name it!" Po said excitedly.

"Why are you reading this? Don't you trust your Kung Fu skills?" Tigress asked, concerned. Po shrugged.

"Yeeeeeeaaaah, but I have to be on my toes. Plus, I was reading this when," Po's mood changed to a more solemn mood. "When I was... acting up earlier."

"We need to talk about that," Tigress said, assertively taking the scroll out of his hand and facing him. She carefully moved the lantern. "What happened that caused you to act that way."

"Whaaat? What do you mean?" Po nervously smiled.

"Po," Tigress sternly grunted. "What happened? It's not like you to act like that."

"Then what is it like?" Po shot back, a little frustrated by what she said. Tigress's eyebrow rose. "I mean," Po sighed, "I guess I was just dealing with a... a story."

"Does it have anything to do with that book you have to write?" Tigress asked.

"Well, kind of... I guess," Po murmured, not really telling the whole truth. "It's hard to explain."

"Well, if it's just a story, you have to remember it's just that... a story."

"I guess..." Po suddenly had an epiphany. "That's it!" Po smiled widely at Tigress. "It is just a story. A stupid story that I've been telling myself had no good ending!" Po surprised Tigress with a huge bear hug. "Thanks, Tigress. I really needed to have this chat. Well! Goodnight!" Though confused, the tiger smiled and left the panda to sleep.

* * *

The village Zheng-Hau was visiting had a short mountain in the middle of the village. It was a dwarf compared to the Jade Palace mountain and the official's house was on this mountain. Zheng-Hau looked down into the village when a certain hare hopped up to him. "Our scouts have mentioned a group of peculiar animals heading this way. They've just entered the Southern edge of the region."

"What do they look like?" Zheng-Hau asked Lin.

"A monkey, crane, viper, mantis, and a tiger."

"Furious Five. So Master Shifu must not be with them," Zheng-Hau commented.

"They also mentioned something about a huge muscular snow leopard and a chubby panda," Lin replied. Zheng-Hau's eyebrow rose at the mention of a panda.

"The Jade Palace has never brought its servants to the fight," Zheng-Hau muttered, "but it has been a while since I've been there."

"What do you want to do? Shall I take a team to delay them?" Lin asked dutifully. Zheng-Hau thought about it.

"No, don't worry about that. I'll take of them," Zheng-Hau smiled. "Okay, let's go," Zheng-Hau smirked, ready for the encounter as he hopped down the mountain.

* * *

Tai-Lung's eyes shifted back and forth, eyeing anything and anyone that could potentially be against them. Tigress sighed, "It's impossible to figure out which one is for Zheng-Hau and which one isn't. It's better if we're just on the defense all the time."

"Like you were with me?" Tai-Lung smirked. Tigress smirked back as the walked on. "So, what are we going to do with Po?" The snow leopard asked the tiger in a whisper. "We're going to have to make sure he's not around. It's easier to sneak up on Zheng-Hau if he's not here." Tigress thought about it. Before she could answer, Po spotted something.

"COOLL!" He exclaimed, darting over to a shop. "Look! They have kunai!" The group groaned.

"Po, we're on a-"

"Wait a minute," Tai-Lung stopped her. "Um... Po, why don't you stay there and search around. We'll just look around for info."

"Okay," Po quickly agreed and went to bother the blacksmith.

"That way we can split up and be less noticeable," Tai-Lung explained to Tigress. The tiger nodded. They soon split up and did some digging around. Crane took to the air, flying around to see if he could find Zheng-Hau anywhere. Viper and Mantis hung low to the ground, darting around to see if any bunny or hare looked like the person they were searching for. Tai-Lung, Monkey, and Tigress carefully snuck around in the corners and alleyways of the village, but they couldn't find any information concerning Zheng-Hau. This village was about a day away from the Mung village that Zheng-Hau's operation was stationed. They searched all over, but they couldn't find anyone who had information about Zheng-Hau, not that they were willing. Tigress noticed some of the people looking at her in a strange way as she walked over to Tai-Lung in a nearby alley.

"They know we're here," Tigress mentioned.

"It's going to be impossible for us to find him. If he were an ox or even a gazelle, it would be easier," Tai-Lung growled. Monkey, Mantis, and Viper rendezvoused with them. "Any luck?"

"No, but we do know that he's in the Mung village just north of here," Viper replied. Tigress sighed.

"That won't do. He's here, I know it," She fretted. Tai-Lung nodded in agreement.

"It's best that we stay together. That way we won't be ambushed," Tai-Lung suggested to which Tigress agreed. "Should we get Po?"

"Sure," Tigress sighed in defeat. They went to go to the blacksmith, but the panda wasn't there. "Where is he?"

"First, we can't find information about Zheng-Hau. Now, we can't find a 300-pound panda. Ladies and gentlemen, I think it's safe to say we're getting worse at this job," Tai-Lung muttered sarcastically.

"Wait, this is great! Zheng-Hau is going to be after people who look like fighters, right? Po doesn't look like a fighter," Monkey proposed.

"If anything he'll probably think Tai-Lung or Tigress is the Dragon Warrior if he doesn't know who the Dragon Warrior is," Viper added. It would be easier for them to get a word out to Po since he wasn't on Zheng-Hau's radar. Suddenly, a knife sunk its blade straight at the ground in front of them and a blinding cloud of smoke billowed from it. The group huddled close together, but no strike came. After the smoke cleared, Zheng-Hau, in his black cloak, stood in front of the group.

"You're looking for me?" Zheng-Hau asked with a cocky smirk.

"You're Zheng-Hau?" Tai-Lung asked in his fighting pose. The jackrabbit rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms with a fuss.

"Were you expecting a huge rabbit?" Zheng-Hau muttered.

"Well, no... We're just trying to figure out how we missed the black outfit?" Mantis replied. Zheng-Hau rolled his eyes again.

"How many ducks, pigs, and bunnies are there? It was easy to hide. Plus, you guys really don't hide well. I got a five-hour head start," Zheng-Hau criticized.

"What, are you our master now?" Mantis remarked.

"We're here to stop your rebellion, Zheng-Hau," Tigress declared, bearing her stern glower.

"Rebellion? You mean revolut- Crap, Lin's getting to me," Zheng-Hau grumbled, "This is me giving the people a voice. You and I both know that masters like you can not be everywhere at once. That's why I'm fighting for the villagers to have the ability to fight for themselves," Zheng-Hau explained.

"And if we don't comply?" Tigress asked. Zheng-Hau took a long breath and readied himself with two kunais in his hands.

"Then I'm going to have to ask you to go away and leave these citizens out of it. I'm just teaching them how to protect themselves and not to rely so heavily on big heroes like you to save them!" Tai-Lung laughed at the jackrabbit.

"I don't think so," The snow leopard pompously said, popping the tight bones in his neck. He launched himself at Zheng-Hau. Before he could even lay a hand on him, Zheng-Hau hit a series of points on Tai-Lung's torso with the blunted back of his kunais, stunning him. "ACK!" Tai-Lung cried out. The Furious Five looked in shock.

"Those years at the Jade Palace weren't wasted," Zheng-Hau smirked. "Whoa, hmm," He yelped a bit, readjusting his stance after a clumsy step. The rest of them charged at him as Zheng rushed them as well. Mantis jumped up to kick him back, but Zheng deflected him with his knife, backhanding him to the side as Viper struck her tail straight as his face. Zheng-Hau sharply moved back, dodging the attack. The snake lurched up at his face, roping her tail around his hands. Suddenly, Crane, who had stayed out of sight in the air, swooped in, but the bunny jumped up, smashed his head into the bird's torso to knock him off course, and crashed into Zheng-Hau, loosening Viper's hold on him. The jackrabbit quickly scrambled out of the trash heap just to have Tigress nearly clobber his face in. The rabbit dodged left, letting the shockwave of Tigress's powerful punch pass him.

He seemed clumsy, but he was skilled. Tigress jumped back as Zheng-Hau took a slash at her with his kunai. Zheng dashed towards her, dodging her kick as he crouched underneath and went for a punch. Tigress grabbed his fist but nearly didn't notice the other one with the sharp kunai coming at her hand. She forced Zheng back before he could cut her, but the jackrabbit quickly jumped up high and kicked down, striking his foot on the back of Tigress's head. "GRAH!" Tigress shouted in momentary pain as she zipped back to make a distance between Zheng-Hau and her.

"You're no match for me. If your Dragon Warrior over there can't defeat me, what makes you think you can," Zheng-Hau said, pointing to Tai-Lung. Tigress was confused but held her snarling face. At least he didn't know the truth, that could work to their advantage.

"Then what do you want from us?" Tigress questioned. Zheng-Hau was about to answer, but he paused in thought. He looked at the sky and sigh with a small chuckle.

"You can't give me what I truly want," Zheng-Hau smiled sadly, "But you're going to give the people what they truly need," Zheng said more assertively and confidently. "The people need to defend themselves. I want the leaders to do so." Suddenly, Tai-Lung jumped up behind him, about to pounce. Zheng spun a special knife in his hand and threw it to his left side blindly. The blade stuck into the wall of a concrete house and through a small rope in the knife, Zheng was pulled out of the way of Tai-Lung's attack. With the two cats up, Zheng changed tactics.

**Continued...**


	5. Complicated

Complicated

* * *

The jackrabbit threw another smoke bomb at Tigress and Tai-Lung, blinding their eyes. The two masters suddenly heard loud cracks. "Oh no," Tai-Lung mumbled. They couldn't hear the jackrabbit's movements behind the blasts. Tai-Lung hunched over in pain from a punch to stomach followed by a swift kick to his exposed back, forcing him to the ground. Tigress quickly darted out of the smoke, nearly colliding with the jackrabbit's sword pointed at her neck. Tigress growled, but the rabbit didn't flinch.

"Well," Zheng panted, "Do you reconsider your decision?" Tigress examined her teammates. Monkey groaned underneath Crane while his hand was plopped on Mantis. Viper laid belly up over the entire pile while Tai-Lung trembled on hands and knees. Her teammates were in bad shape. She needed a way out.

"Give us time," She stalled. Zheng-Hau lowered his blade and sheathed it. He was no some cruel rabble-rouser. "We'll consider the issue over three days. After that, we'll go to you," Tigress proposed.

"Why should I give you that chance?" Zheng asked, trying to see if she could find a good reason. He decided to let them go anyways, but he needed a better reason for doing that than just his good nature.

"We have Master Shifu back at the Jade Palace. If you let us go, we'll be able to convince him to do something about the issue," Tigress explained. Zheng-Hau nodded. That definitely was a better reason. "We... we'll speak with you when we've considered the matter." Zheng-Hau eyed her for a while before nodding. He looking around.

"You've lost your panda servant?" Zheng-Hau asked curiously. Tigress's eyes narrowed at him. How did he know about Po? And why was he worried about him if he saw that he thought Po was a servant?

"No, we just don't know where he is," Tigress firmly stated. Zheng-Hau rolled his eyes, facepalming his head.

"Well duh! That's what being lost is!" Zheng-Hau rebutted. "I ask because I don't want him to side with me just yet."

"Why?" Tai-Lung grumbled, slowly getting up from the ground.

"I have spies everywhere. A few of them are passionate about my cause. If they were to convince the panda to side with me, you may have a knife at your throats," Zheng-Hau explained. Tigress rolled her eyes and gave a small smile.

"Don't worry, he won't."

"How do you know?" Zheng-Hau asked the tiger.

"You don't know that panda," Tai-Lung grumbled with a small smirk. "He's special." Zheng gazed at them suspiciously but simply nodded. "We'll talk to you after three days."

"I'll be counting," Zheng-Hau darkly said. He jumped high onto the roof of a nearby house and disappeared.

Tai-Lung growled, "Well, that was embarrassing."

"We greatly underestimated him. The fact that he knows nerve attacks makes him a greater threat. We'll have to be cautious about how we tread in this place." Tigress said.

"Are we going to spend our time thinking this whole thing over?" Monkey asked as the rest got back to their feet.

"No... not until it gets to that point," Tigress contemplated openly. "For right now, we need to find Po before Zheng-Hau."

"Why?"

"Po doesn't know about you being the 'Dragon Warrior'," Tigress explained to the snow leopard. "We have to get to him before Zheng-Hau finds him." Tai-Lung rolled his eyes with a chortle and a laugh.

"What are the chances that he'll meet one rabbit in this village that is leading out a rebellion?" Tai-Lung asked. Tigress and the rest looked at Tai-Lung as if he was stupid. "What?"

"This is Po we're talking about, remember," Mantis explained. Tai-Lung replayed what he said in his head and then realized the error.

"Yeah, we need to find him quick!" The snow leopard exclaimed as they split up and searched the village. Meanwhile, Zheng-Hau was darting across rooftops until he finally got to the inn that he, Lin, and Yun were staying for the night. The jackrabbit jumped off the rooftop, landing perfectly on the road, firmly planted on the ground with a slick smile on his face.

"And sticks the landing, hehe," Zheng-Hau mumbled cockily under his breath with a smirk. An old goat was watching him in confusion. "Hehe, I was just um... I was um... Have a nice day, ma'am," Zheng-Hau hurriedly replied as he quickly walked off into the inn. He heard a burst of familiar laughter coming from the back of the inn where the outside patio was. He looked out the window and saw Lin the hare and Yun the fox talking and laughing with a big black and white male panda. He seemed friendly and had kind jade eyes. Then Zheng remembered Tai-Lung and the others. This must be their servant. Zheng-Hau took off his black cloak, folded it on the coat rack in the inn, and walked out to the patio.

"Oh! Zheng-Hau! You came back!" Lin excitedly mentioned.

"Are you okay?" Yun asked more concerned.

"I'm fine, guys. Thank you," Zheng-Hau replied. "Who are you speaking with?"

"Oh! This is Po! He's friends with the Furious Five. We were just at the blacksmith to get some more kunais for you, and we ran into him," Lin said with a smile. Both the jackrabbit and the panda widened their eyes when they heard each others' names and descriptions. Po realized he was in a sticky situation.

_Come on, Po. Play it cool._ He thought to himself as he stood up and bowed to the panda. "It's an honor to finally meet you," Po nervously said. Zheng-Hau knew he was nervous, but smiled in sympathy.

"It's okay," He bowed as well. "You don't have to be nervous. I, too, was a servant in the Jade Palace."

"A... a servant?" Po said in confusion.

"Yes, aren't you one of the Jade Palace servants? That's what the masters and the Dragon Warrior said when I fought them off," Zheng-Hau replied.

"You fought them!" Lin exclaimed in excitement. "Did they surrender?" Zheng-Hau rubbed his arm nervously.

"I... I gave them three days to think it over," Zheng-Hau answered. Lin fussed, pouting as she sat down in her seat. "It's only fair that I do that, Lin. I'm not here to show that I can defeat Kung Fu masters."

"It would be an accomplishment," Yun smirked at the jackrabbit. Zheng-Hau smiled in a way that showed he was struggling not to blush. Po was stood silently in confusion. He quickly decided to play along.

"Yeah, I'm the servant of the Jade Palace. It's nice to meet you, Mr. Zheng-Hau."

"Please, just Zheng-Hau," The jackrabbit replied with a warm smile. "Let's get you back to the masters. I'm sure that they're worried about you."

"Maybe…" Po trailed off in a pause.

"Po? What's wrong?" Lin asked concerned. The panda looked at Zheng-Hau with a pensive glare that made Zheng-Hau anxious.

"You defeated the Furious Five and the snow leopard, right?" Po asked directly. Zheng slowly nodded. "Could you teach me?" Zheng became worried.

"Po, please don't misunderstand. What I'm trying to do is not to get revenge, but to help people fight for themselves. That why-"

"You're causing this revolution so that the law that says subjects can't defend themselves is thrown out. Yeah, Lin told me about that," Po interrupted. "But I'm not asking so I can get revenge on anyone, especially not on the Furious Five."

"Oh… then why are you asking me to teach you?" The jackrabbit questioned.

"The Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior are trained in the coolest Kung Fu. You're trained in weaponry. Maybe I can keep my family safe if the Furious Five are... not around," Po lied with a nervous grin. Zheng was, of course, suspicious at the panda's attitude, but Lin spoke up.

"That's wonderful! That's just what we need!"

"It is?" Both Po and Zheng said in unison as well as in confusion.

"If the Dragon Warrior and Furious Five saw that their servant could help keep the local peace while they attended to more important issues, then they would be able to see the value in supporting the cause," Yun calculatingly murmured.

"Exactly!" Lin chimed. Zheng-Hau looked at the ground, pausing for a moment. He looked at Po.

"Well, what do you say, Po? I could teach you small stuff, but it all depends on how fast you learn," Zheng-Hau replied. The panda thought for a moment. It would make it easier to see what Zheng-Hau's true intention was. Plus, the others couldn't get any closer to him than Po could right now. It would be the best strategic position to end this rebellion.

…

Po looked at the jackrabbit. Zheng's quirky smile faltered a bit as he slightly shook his head as if he was driving away from a pestering thought. There was something else that he was hiding, even from Lin and Yun that Po wanted to know. Shifu did say that he and Zheng-Hau were similar. Po took Zheng's hand and shook it.

"Deal. Can we start now? Please Please Please Please!" Po excitedly said. There was also a_ small_ interest in being able to use weaponry so well that he could fight off the Furious Five and Tai-Lung. Zheng-Hau chuckled a bit at the panda's demeanor and nodded.

"Of course. Now, we're going to need a place we can train," Zheng-Hau replied.

**Continued...**


	6. First Day of Training

First Day of Training

* * *

"Well, this is more than perfect," Zheng-Hau mentioned pleasantly. They were at a small waterfall surrounded by trees. It was a kilometer outside of the village. "Now, did Lin measure you, Po?"

"Yeah, she said the cloak would take some time, but Yun is helping her," Po pouted a bit. Zheng-Hau tilted his head to the side. "It's easy to find clothes that fit _you_, isn't it? It's always a pain for me," Po complained.

"It's not any easier for me. Most villages have bunnies, not jackrabbits," Zheng-Hau countered. Po shrugged.

"Sooo, what were you going to show me?" Po asked as Zheng approached him.

"Well, first I have to figure out how much hand-to-hand combat you know," Zheng replied, getting into a fighting stance. Po went into his stance. Zheng roundhouse kicked Po, but Po blocked it, jumping over Zheng-Hau and attacking from behind. Zheng-Hau jumped high and came down with his foot extended to kick Po's head, but Po blocked it again. Po forced the jackrabbit back with his foot. Zheng slid back, charging again with an open palm punch, much like Tigress's double hand Tiger strike. The shockwave from his punch was less than Tigress's but still surprisingly powerful enough to make Po shift his head out of the line of invisible fire.

"You're strong," Po commented with an excited smile.

"You're not too bad yourself." Zheng-Hau smiled and panted. After a while, Zheng-Hau stopped the spar. "That's good. Hmm, you seem to know a lot of Kung Fu moves."

"Well, being with the Furious Five and being a huge fan of Kung Fu helps," Po shrugged, trying to keep his composure. Zheng-Hau nodded in agreement. "Sooo, how did you figure out those moves. I heard from some of the people... mainly Lin, that you were able to defeat the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five. How did you do it?" Zheng-Hau thought about his question for a while before sighing.

"I'm guessing the Masters haven't talked about me since I've left."

"They have," Po corrected, "Actually, I remember Master Shifu feeling guilty about letting you get this point."

"This point? What does that mean?" Zheng-Hau asked in a slightly harsh tone.

"Well," Po retracted nervously, "He felt like he could have helped you more... somehow. Maybe you and masters wouldn't be on opposite sides if he had been... more compassionate." The jackrabbit suspiciously stared at the panda for a while before sighing and looking up at the sky.

"He couldn't have," He finally replied, "I remember Zeng telling me that Shifu had lost his first foster son. That caused him to be distant and strict." The jackrabbit sighed at the thought. "He was already too broken to help me with my problem."

"And what was your problem?" Po asked, stepping closer to place his hand on Zheng's shoulder. Zheng-Hau looked at the panda again before huffing in frustration.

"Why don't we get on with your training?" Zheng diverted, shaking Po's hand off of his shoulder.

"Sorry," Po apologized, "I didn't mean to-"

"It's alright," The jackrabbit smiled, "I've just had a long life, that's all." It was quiet for a while before Po spoke again.

"Where were you when you went away from the Jade Palace?" Po asked, honestly curious.

"Well, after I left, I went into the northern territory out of China, where the Mongolians live," Zheng-Hau replied. "They were very rustic and old-fashioned, but they seemed to take pity on me," Zheng-Hau huffed a bit at the statement he made. "Anyways, they took care of me and showed me many of the techniques they learned from Kung Fu masters AND swordsmen."

"How would Mongolians know anything about Kung Fu?" Po asked, curiously.

"I don't know, but they seemed to know a lot. Then again, Master Oogway used to make trips there now and then," Zheng-Hau shrugged. "Okay, let's get on with your knife skills." Zheng pulled out an ordinary kitchen knife. Po look at him with a quizzical face.

"Shouldn't I learn how to use kunais?" Po asked.

"A knife is a knife. One of the things I was taught is it's not the tools that need knowledge but the user," Zheng explained. "Once you get the feel of throwing a couple of different weighted knives, you'll learn to adjust. Trust me, this will be a pain to do." Of course, when Zheng-Hau gave Po the knife, Po skillfully tossed it around and maneuvered it around in his hand. "Um..."

"I used to be a cook, so... I've pretty used to kitchen knives," Po laughed awkwardly. Zheng-Hau shook himself awake.

"Well, you seem like a prodigy with this," Zheng-Hau smiled. "You'll be learning a lot in no time." Po gave a warm excited smile, reassuring Zheng-Hau's decision of teaching the panda. As the day went on, Zheng-Hau grew fond of Po's natural skills and talent, and most importantly, his personality. "You're a natural, Po. I'm surprised you're not a master."

"Well, I guess I'm just... nervous of failing," Po fibbed.

"Why?"

"Well, what if I'm not good enough to be one of the masters of the Jade Palace," Po asked. He wanted to know what Zheng-Hau would say.

"Well... I can understand being afraid of new opportunities," Zheng-Hau replied with a sigh.

"You mean like you and Lin?" Po asked bluntly. The jackrabbit shook in alarm.

"WHAT?! I... I don't know what you're talking about!" Zheng-Hau exclaimed.

"You like Lin. It's obvious," The panda replied with a shrug. "Except to her, I guess."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Po said, "I wouldn't know how she sees you, but she really, really loves your idea of equality." Zheng-Hau sighed a bit forlorn. "Don't worry, I won't tell."

"Thanks, Po. But yes, I know what it means to be afraid of new opportunities." The jackrabbit looked up at the sky. Po looked up with him.

"Why do you do that?"

"Huh?"

"Why do you look up at the sky? Whenever you're thinking or sad, you look up at the sky. How come?" Zheng-Hau thought for a while before answering.

"Well," He started with a heavy sigh, "My mom said that my dad was much like me when I was young: nervous and anxious about everything. She said he overcame his fears and died fighting for his country. She would tell me stories about how he was looking over me and that I could get strength from that knowledge." He paused. "I don't believe it, you know. That he watches over me. I think he's dead in the ground, not conscious of my life."

"Well, that's pessimistic."

"Not really," Zheng-Hau answered Po, "It gives me some peace to know that he isn't up somewhere judging me about my decision." Po shrugged. "But I sometimes wonder if what I'm thinking about my dad is true. Maybe he is up there. I just wonder what he would think about my life." The panda felt bad for bringing up a hurtful past.

"Zheng-Hau, why did you leave the Jade Palace? It seems like a great place to be," Po asked innocently.

"It is... but not for me," Zheng-Hau replied in a whisper. "It was because of my...problem that I left. I just couldn't take it anymore, being there with people who... didn't help with the problem."

"I'm sure they didn't mean-"

"They didn't. I realize that now. But back then... I think we're done for today," Zheng-Hau sighed, changing his voice to a more cheerful tone. "Why don't we check if Yun and Lin are done with your cloak?" Po nodded, though he solemnly sulked as they went home. Zheng-Hau sensed this. "Don't worry, Po. It's not your fault."

"Yeah, but I know what it's like to have problems that you think no one else has ever encountered," Po replied. Zheng-Hau looked at him intrigued.

"And what have you done in that instance?"

"Talk to someone. Chances are they have the answer that you don't want to hear or you're not listening to. But maybe you need to hear the same thing from someone else," Po explained. Zheng-Hau walked in silent contemplation before talking again.

"Maybe you're right." They walked back to Zheng-Hau's temporary hideout. Before they knocked on the door, Lin burst out of the door, knocking Po onto his back.

"OW!"

"Oops sorry, Po!" Lin exclaimed, quickly hopping off of the panda. "I just wanted to tell you guys that Po's cloak is finished!"

"Despite all of Lin's last-minute entries," Yun grumbled, rubbing her head to brush away the frustrations. "How was your training?"

"It was good. Po is going to be a great martial artist one day," Zheng-Hau said with a sense of pride. Po smiled nervously as he got to his feet.

"Well, I couldn't have done it without you, Zheng-Hau," Po replied, bowing to his new teacher. Zheng-Hau bowed as well. "Well, let's see the robe." Lin brought out a vibrant red cloak with a white dragon design traveling down his back and two swords in its hands. "Awesome!" Po said, putting the robe on. He felt a small pouch with a film of paper in the back. "What is this?" He asked, pulling out the long dense paper attached to his cloak.

"That's a blast shield. It cushions the blows of any explosions. It won't stop major blasts, but short, small, and up-close ones will be blocked," Lin explained.

"The material also makes your weapons feel light, so you won't have to worry about being weighed down," Yun added.

"Wow, guys. This is great! I... I'm surprised that you're so giving to someone you just met," Po replied. Lin smiled widely while Yun nodded her head cooly. Zheng-Hau placed his hand on the fox's shoulder.

"Yun, could you please escort Po back to the masters? I just want to make sure that they understand our deal," Zheng-Hau asked kindly, "If it's not too much of a problem." Yun pursed her lips together, quickly nodding and walking Po out the door. She scoff a bit under her breath in annoyance as she ushered Po to walk with her.

"You don't have to do this, Yun. I can find the others," Po said.

"No, it's fine, Po," She said in a nicer tone. "I'm just a bit tired, that's all."

"Of what?" Po asked curiously. His big jade eyes wide open like a kid's natural intrigued expression. Yun smiled at his child-like demeanor but sighed.

"I'm... starting to question my... motives," Yun replied.

"You mean with Zheng-Hau?" Po asked. Yun nodded. "Why?"

"It's complicated."

"Does Zheng-Hau know about this?"

"No, and it's best that he doesn't it. Besides, it's best not to speculate things that aren't real yet," Yun replied.

"Oh," Po simply replied, a little confused but nonetheless encouraged by her wisdom. "You're very smart, Mrs. Yun."

"Thank you, Po." The fox smiled at the panda.

"It's no wonder you are Zheng-Hau's favorite strategist," Po said casually. Yun's eyes widened, but she stayed quiet.

"Thank you, Po," The fox replied. "It's come with years of experience. Mostly bad." Yun looked at the ground. Po's eyes saddened as he stopped her and knelt down to her.

"Hey, whatever happened, I'm sure that it wasn't your fault," Po encouraged. Yun smiled as if smiling at a child.

"You hardly know me, Po," Yun said. Po shrugged as he stood back up.

"Yeah, but I know you enough to know you're not a terrible person."

"Well, I don't know about that, but thank you, Po," Yun sighed. "Po, have you ever wondered if you were... worthy of love?" Po's eyes widened. They narrowed back down as he thought for a while, rubbing his chin and making a face that looked like a child over-thinking. Yun smiled, hiding a giggle with her hand.

"I guess I have...recently," Po confessed.

"Recently?" Yun asked.

"Yeah, well, it's complicated. But I have thought about that in one way or the other," Po explained.

"Do you think you are?" Yun asked. Po's eyes looked at Yun. They slowly saddened into a sigh as Po's shoulders sagged along with the rest of his body. "Po? Oh, Po, I don't mean that you aren't worthy of love. I'm just asking if you think you are? You are definitely worthy of love even if you feel insignificant."

"You mean... because I'm a servant?" Po asked. He had to keep reminding himself that his role was switched for him. Yun looked at him with a smirk, casting one full-body glance at the panda with half-lidded knowing eyes before showing a genuinely warm motherly smile.

"Even if you're a servant, you're a servant in a great position. Most people would love to be in the place you're in," Yun replied, placing a hand on his chest. "You're worthy of love, Po." The panda smiled.

"Thank you, Yun."

**Continued...**


	7. Friendly Plans

Friendly Plans

* * *

"How can we not find him?!" Tai-Lung exclaimed, gnashing his teeth together in a furious growl.

"I'm sure Po is fine," Viper said soothingly. She was trying to stop Tigress from pacing a trench into the floor. They searched everywhere to find Po, but they couldn't find him.

"I've flown everywhere and couldn't find him," Crane sadly sighed.

"Maybe if I do one more round I'll-"

"Tigress," Monkey said, quickly moving in front of the tiger and stopping her in her tracks. "He'll be fine." Just then, there was a knock at the door. They opened it to see Po with a small fox lady next to him.

"PO!" They all exclaimed.

"Hey guys," Po nervously smiled, rubbing his left arm. They all hugged Po tightly. Yun stood in quiet surprise. "Guys! I'm fine. I'm fine!"

"Where have you been?! We've been worried sick about you! Where were you?" They all asked at once. Po twiddled his fingers a bit before Yun cleared his throat.

"Your servant Po has been training with Zheng-Hau. Zheng thought it was best to show you first-hand how an ordinary person could become a great help to people with the ability to protect themselves. Zheng-Hau figured that if he trained Po that you all would see how extremely needed it is to protect themselves."

"And I'm guessing that this was a decision made today?" Tai-Lung asked as Yun nodded her head. "And Zheng-Hau is willing to train our... servant?" Po quietly stared at Tai said that. The panda looked away, glaring at the wall instead.

"Yes," Yun answered. "Well, I'll leave you to your rest. See you tomorrow, Po."

"Goodnight, Yun!" Po waved the fox a friendly goodbye. As the fox left, Tigress quickly shut the door behind her.

"What… happened?" Tigress asked sternly. Po rolled his eyes.

"I was at the blacksmithing shop when I ran into Lin, a friend of Zheng-Hau. She took me to Yun, Zheng-Hau's strategist. Then I met Zheng-Hau. We talked... actually Lin talked," Po muttered, "And we decided it would be okay for me to be trained by him."

"In what?" Tai-Lung asked.

"In weapons. Zheng-Hau was able to hold you guys off. I need to learn how those weapons work," Po explained. The rest of them looked at each other doubtfully. "Plus, I would be able to spy on him. You know, the old-fashion snoopy-snoop?!" Po said with a childish mischievous smirk. Tai-Lung facepalmed himself.

"While Po does have a point," He muttered, "What should we do if Zheng-Hau gets suspicious?"

"It doesn't matter. I would be able to knock some sense into him. Besides, I think I can help him."

"How?" Tigress asked the panda.

"I'll explain later," Po said. He crossed his arms and looked at everyone with an upset face. "By the way, why did you guys go along with the whole servant thing?" The others looked at each other ashamedly.

"It was for the best, Po," Tigress explained calmly. "If Zheng-Hau knew that you were the Dragon Warrior, you wouldn't have this opportunity."

"But that wasn't the first plan, was it?" Po argued back. "The first plan was to 'distance' yourselves from me so you can get on with the mission. That's why you left me at the shop. You didn't trust me on this particular mission." The silence in the room was immediately felt. Po's glaring jade eyes shifted from person to person.

"We trust you, Po," Tai-Lung audibly said, "but this mission requires the utmost care. This isn't just something we can go in fists ablaze. We're not fighting a person, but an idea. It's something we just... didn't think you knew how to deal with. And let's be honest you're are more... reckless than us." Po simply gazed at Tai-Lung for a while before shaking his head.

"They're just stories you tell yourself," He mumbled to himself under his breath. Before they could ask, Po spoke up again. "So I start learning from him. What's the plan when your three days are up?" Zheng-Hau told him all about his conflict with the Furious Five and Tai-Lung.

"We were going to figure out what the people in this village say about him. Viper and Mantis would probably be the ones to cause less of a problem. We'll let you just talk with Zheng-Hau and his people to see if there isn't something about him we can fight back with," Tigress replied strategically. Po nodded his head and stretched his arms out in a yawn.

"Well, I'm going to bed. See you guys later!" Po smiled as he went to bed. Tai-Lung looked pensively into oblivion in his seat as the Furious Five, save Tigress, went to bed.

"What's the matter?" Tigress asked the older snow leopard.

"I'm worried about Po. There's something that he's not telling us," Tai replied.

"You don't think he's lying to us, do you?" Tigress glared. Tai-Lung glanced at her stern look and simply sighed.

"I think he's questioning his relationship with us. Or... I don't know. I can't shake this feeling," He said.

* * *

The next day, Po arrived at Zheng's inn with his red cloak. Yun opened the door. "Hey, Po, it's good to see you up," Yun smiled warmly, "Zheng-Hau is coming back from talking with his soldiers."

"What for?" He asked curiously. Yun gave him a suspicious eye.

"I can't tell you everything, Po. Especially since you technically work and live with the enemy," Yun replied carefully. Po rolled his eyes.

"Are they _really_ your enemies? You're trying to make them see things your way, aren't you?" Po argued. The fox nodded. "There are certain things that are black and white, Yun, but not everything is as it seems. Don't bite a helping hand." The fox stood there, mystified by the panda's wisdom.

"You're right, Po," She said, "I'm sorry, but I just have to be careful."

"I understand," Po replied as he sat down next to her. "So what are you doing now?" Yun took out some of the papers she was working on. Most of them looked like maps.

"I'm trying to figure out where best to steer this movement, but if things go the way I think, I may have to change some things," Yun explained, gazing the papers carefully as Lin rushed into the door.

"Po! It's good to see you!" the hare exclaimed excitedly. Po smiled at the bunny. "Zheng-Hau will be here in a minute."

"Okay. Hey, Lin? What made you want to go along with Zheng-Hau on his cause?" Po asked. Lin stopped bouncing and stayed still for a while. Yun looked over her papers nearby.

"Well, I've known Zheng-Hau for a while, and he was mostly very quiet and reserved. But after he came back from Mongolia, he had a new look in his eyes that burned with a courageous-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Po stopped her, laughing, "It almost sounds like you like his idea and not him." Yun looked directly at Lin, waiting for her answer.

"Oh! No, no, no. Zheng-Hau and I are just friends, nothing more. No, I don't have that kind of interest for him," She replied.

"Why not?" Po asked curiously.

"Well, he and I have grown up together, and I've just seen him more like a brother. He's a nice guy, but... I don't like him like that."

"But you like his idea of people defending themselves. Why?" Po asked. Lin was silent for a while.

"Well, I've always been an upper-class citizen, a royal even. I've always had people saving me, and I hate being the victim. I want to take my life into my own hands!" Lin smiled widely. Po smiled back but frowned a bit.

"You seem to be more passionate about this movement than he is sometimes," Po noticed, making Yun's ear perk up. Lin shrugged.

"Zheng-Hau has a lot of problems that he deals with, but I don't ask him many questions," Lin replied.

"Why not," Yun asked, suddenly standing up. Lin's eyes widened at her actions, but she simply said.

"I've known Zheng-Hau for a while since we were kids. He keeps things to himself," Lin replied.

"So do you even know what's going on in his head? Or what he struggles with?" Yun interrogated in a slightly harsh tone.

"No. Yun, what's wrong?" Lin asked, wondering where the hostility was coming from. Yun looked at her and Po and shook her head, trying to get rid of an emotion she was having.

"Nevermind. I'm sorry if it seemed like I was quizzing you. I was just... just curious," the fox sat back down, hurriedly writing her notes on the paper as Zheng-Hau came in. Po noticed everything but kept it to himself.

**Continued...**


	8. The Past Baggage

The Past Baggage

* * *

"Today, we're going to be practicing your Kunai fighting," Zheng said as he pulled out his kunai. "Remember, any weapon you use is an extension of yourself. The kunai is part of that point."

"So it's like a second head?" Po asked.

"Well, it's more like a slightly longer sharp arm," Zheng-Hau corrected. Po pulled out two kunais and started fighting Zheng-Hau with them. Zheng-Hau ducked a swing from Po's kunai and charged at his belly. Po jumped back and waited for the jackrabbit's kunai to be thrown. As Zheng threw it, Po carefully watched it, used his kunais to quickly slow the knife's velocity and catch it in his hand. "Not bad," the jackrabbit commented. Po smiled, but suddenly smoke started coming out of Zheng's kunai.

"Ack, ack, ack!" Po coughed as a blanket of clouds fogged his eyesight.

"But you have to be careful which kunais you catch," Zheng-Hau instructed.

"What *cough* is that?" Po coughed.

"There are a couple of trick kunais," Zheng-Hau replied, pulling out four different kunais, "You got your regular kunais, explosive kunais that have a blast range of about 10-12 feet, your rocket kunais-"

"Rocket kunais?"

"Not the kind you're thinking of," Zheng-Hau corrected, pulling the kunai out. It had a long blade with two slits down the middle. "Once this thing hits something, it digs deep into the rock or whatever its tip touches," Zheng-Hau smacked the tip of the kunai with a rock. The slits down the middle suddenly produced two sharper spikes with serrated edges.

"Wow," Po said. "So cool!"

"The fourth one is a specialized smoke bomb of kunai. You can reuse them but make sure that the smoke mix is full," Zheng-Hau said, reciting the smoke mix recipe to him. "That mix will last you about seven throws."

"Cool," Po smiled. Zheng-Hau smiled back as he started teaching Po each one. Unbeknownst to the two, Tigress and Tai-Lung watched their training from a distance.

"They seem to get along very well. Po is good at faking it," Tai-Lung mentioned with a smirk as he rested his back against the high tree branches.

"He's not faking it," Tigress replied. Tai-Lung opened one eye at her. "Po either likes you or he doesn't. I think he genuinely becoming Zheng-Hau's friend."

"Is that good or bad?" Tai-Lung asked with his hands behind the back of his head.

"I don't know. He may be able to change Zheng's mind, but he may also sympathize with him," Tigress answered. Tai-Lung shook his head with a smile on his face. "What?"

"Po won't betray his friends, but if he does become the rabbit's friend, he'll be able to change his mind."

"How do you have so much faith in Po?" Tigress asked, surprised that the snow leopard was so relaxed about it.

"Why don't you?" Tai-Lung argued, wondering where all those years with the panda went. Did she not know who her friend was? He was living proof that the panda was able to change people. Tigress didn't answer the question as they continued watching the panda and jackrabbit spar and train each other.

Later on, Po and Zheng-Hau finished their training. Zheng-Hau laughed with white smoke mix residue on his clothes. Po had the same on his red cloak. "Well, you finally did get that mix right."

"Hehe, sorry about that," Po chuckled. Zheng-Hau patted Po on the back, still laughing.

"Well, I was the same way when I first learned it. I nearly blew up Zhao's face away," Zheng-Hau smiled.

"Who?"

"Zhao. He was the Mongolian that taught me everything he knew. I spent about 12 years with him," Zheng-Hau replied, still smiling about the panda's blunder.

"What was he like?" Po asked. That's when Zheng-Hau's smile disappeared. "Zheng-Hau?"

"He was harsh. He was very tough on me and... often demanded a lot of me," Zheng-Hau recounted slowly as they walked a dirt path through the bamboo forest.

"Hehe, I know the type," Po replied.

"He was nothing like Shifu," Zheng-Hau argued quickly, knowing who he was thinking. "He was... meaner. Shifu I could understand. But Zhao was more... strict and deceptive in a way," Zheng-Hau said, rubbing his left arm before stopping himself.

"Zheng-Hau? What's wrong?" Po asked, resting a hand on the jackrabbit's shoulder. "Whatever happened, you can tell me."

"He didn't physically hurt me, other than make me do crazy fighting tactics. But he taught me everything there was to weaponry," Zheng-Hau replied. Po stopped the jackrabbit.

"Zheng, there's something that you're not telling me. What is it? Please, I want to help," Po said, looking straight into his eyes. Zheng-Hau was mostly suspicious of people ever since he came back to China. But now, he saw Po's eyes and saw a tender heart, wanting to heal those in need.

"Often, he would say that I wasn't worth his time. That he was training me out of pity and my sad circumstance. He said I was... nothing more than a scared little rabbit... and I wanted to prove him wrong. That's why," Zheng-Hau paused, looking at Po's shocked face. "Po?" Zheng-Hau asked, trembling a bit, "Do you have insecurities?" The panda sighed, standing up from kneeling. He gazed around the bamboo striped forest, placing his hands on his hips.

"Yeah," Po sighed again.

"How do you deal with them?" Zheng-Hau asked.

"Well, they never go away. I can tell you that. But I've learned something about them. They're stories. Just stories we tell ourselves that we aren't redeemable or worthy. Look around you, Zheng-Hau. No one is perfect," Po smiled, resting his hand on his shoulder. "Neither is the Dragon Warrior. Don't listen to what Zhao said. You don't have to stop being the awesome person you are because of that story." Zheng-Hau looked at the panda with a bit of hope in his eyes as he sighed.

"Thanks, Po," Zheng-Hau finally smiled before Tai-Lung and Tigress leaped out of the bamboo. "Whoa! What the heck!?"

"We were just in the neighborhood," Tai-Lung said with a fake but calm smile. "and we just found you."

"Did you hear anything we said?" Po asked with his arms crossed. Tigress's eyes matched his as they glared at each other.

"No. We just wanted to talk with Po for a while," Tigress explained to Zheng-Hau. Zheng nodded as he bowed to his pupil.

"Well, this is where we part for the moment," Zheng-Hau smiled as Po bowed to him as well. "Thank you, Po. I think I have a new perspective on my life now."

"You're welcome," Po said as he walked with the two cats.

"So," Tai-Lung started when they were a good distance away, "What did you two talk about?"

"Personal stuff," Po simply muttered. His tone was monotone and boring. Tigress stopped him.

"Po, we need to know if we're going to stop this threat."

"Is he a threat?" Po asked. Tigress's eyes widened as she scanned Po's entire face. After an awkward pause, Tai-Lung decided to mediate between the two.

"Po, we have to realize that the person may not be bad, but the intentions that they have maybe harmful. Besides, we trust you," Tai-Lung replied. Po released the tension in his shoulders. Tigress looked away from Tai-Lung's gaze. He knew she was worried about Po siding with Zheng-Hau, but she didn't want to prove Tai-Lung right in saying that she didn't trust him. "But is there anything you could tell us?"

"Not really, not without breaking his trust," Po replied. "But could you guys tell me who is Zhao?"

"Zhao? His the general of the Mongolian army. He's been trying to get into China for the longest to conquer it," Tigress explained.

"So the Mongolians are still a problem?" Po asked, "After all these years?"

"Yes, and that's why a rebellion here is very detrimental to all of China," Tigress replied. Po's eyes widened. "Why do you ask?"

"Just... wondering. Zheng-Hau's been to Mongolian in his travels," Po shrugged. Tigress's eyes scanned Po's entire body. Her mouth shut tight, calculating every word.

"Did he learn from Zhao?" Tigress asked.

"I... I don't know what he learned," Po said, but in the back of his mind, Po realized the real reason why Zheng-Hau was doing this movement.

* * *

Zheng-Hau walked back into the inn when Yun was still mulling over the papers. Her half-lidded eyes roamed the papers out of muscle memory and she shivered a bit from the drafty inn. "Hello, Zheng," Yun mumbled, still focused on her work.

"Where is Lin?" He asked, making the fox shrug. Zheng-Hau wrapped his cloak around her shoulders. "You've been working too hard, Yun. Why don't you get some rest?"

"I just need to get some of the plans finalized. I'm making sure that certain connections don't come back to get us in the back," Yun yawned but grabbing his cloak closer to her body.

"What do you mean?" Zheng-Hau asked.

"It's a strategy thing. Don't worry about it," Yun muttered, physically waving him away. "I'm pretty sure that Lin is upstairs if you want."

"I thought you didn't know where she was?" Zheng-Hau asked, raising an eyebrow. The fox shot up from her seat, glaring him in the face.

"What do you want, Zheng?" Zheng-Hau backed away.

"I just want to make sure that you're okay. You seem upset," Zheng-Hau answered. Yun sighed, plopping down in her seat. "What's wrong?" Zheng-Hau asked, sitting next to her.

"I'm... trying to run away from something," Yun replied. "Relationship problem."

"Oh? Who's the lucky man?" Zheng-Hau smiled warmly. Yun smirked at him.

"Well, I don't know yet. I was in a relationship before that was... messy. He would manipulate me into thinking I wasn't good enough and that no one would take me. So... when I saw that he was manipulating me and cheating on me, I decided to manipulate him."

"Whoa," Zheng-Hau said.

"I became great friends with all of his flings. I made them turn against him, making him almost the scourge of everyone in our village. Pretty soon, he started dating the official's daughter. He figured that he was set and could boss the other women around since he was technically royalty now. But I started working for the royal official as a bookkeeper. I made it a point to get revenge on him. I changed my outfit, changed my look a bit, made sure that I was really pretty. You should have seen me," Yun chuckled a bit, "I was the prettiest fox ever."

"Was?" Zheng-Hau asked.

"Well, look at me now," She sighed, "No one would go with a person who made her ex die."

"I'm sorry what?!"

"Well, the plan was to seduce him and make his royal girlfriend kick his butt to the curb. But... that didn't happen the way it did. He... tried to force himself on me and when I screamed for help, the guards took him away. The royal daughter saw everything and wanted him dead. One for cheating on her, two for attacking me."

"So... he got what he deserved."

"But I just wanted him to hurt the way he hurt me!" Yun exclaimed, a tear falling down her face. "I didn't mean to... have him kill." She threw her head into her hands. Zheng-Hau suddenly hugged her tightly. "What are you-"

"Listen, you didn't do anything wrong. You didn't cause him to be killed. He should have never tried to force himself on you. Besides, what you did prevented him from hurting other people. It wasn't your fault," Zheng-Hau said, rubbing her back softly. "You're very crafty and shrewd though," Zheng-Hau smiled. Yun chuckled, whipping her eyes.

"It's a blessing and a curse," Yun replied. "I'm sorry that I was rude. I've just been so suspicious since that point."

"Is that why you joined us?" Zheng-Hau asked.

"I don't want to hurt anyone," Yun sighed. Zheng pulled her close, petting her head. "Zheng?"

"Shhh, it's okay," Zheng-Hau counseled. "For what it's worth, I think you're pretty without your make-up as well."

"You don't mean that," Yun said, pulling away from him.

"No, I'm serious."

"Pretty enough to..." She paused.

"To what?" Zheng-Hau asked. Yun could hear familiar hare feet coming down the stairs. She sighed with a smile and stood up.

"Thank you, Zheng-Hau. I feel a lot better. Goodnight," She said as she left just as Lin came in.

"Goodnight," Zheng-Hau replied, still confused. Lin noticed it as well.

"What happened?" Lin asked. Zheng-Hau shrugged, knowing it was best not to let Lin know.

**Continued...**


	9. The Truth is

The Truth is...

* * *

The clash of the swords struck between the two. Po ducked a swing from Zheng-Hau's blade as he blocked the next swing. "Good! Keep your arms out!" Zheng-Hau smirked, clashing their swords together. Po smirked too as he pushed the jackrabbit back and threw his katana at him. Zheng-Hau deflected it effortlessly. "No, you never throw your swords. It's WHOA!" Zheng-Hau yelped, dodging Po's other katana as he picked up the one he threw and fought Zheng-Hau with two swords. Zheng-Hau jumped back far enough for him to have some breathe room. "Okay, never mind," Zheng-Hau muttered.

"Hmm," Po smirked, sheathing one of his swords and holding his other one in a ready stance. Po and Zheng-Hau battled again, clashing swords. Zheng-Hau jumped back, throwing shurikens at the panda. Po skillfully deflected each one before jumping back and letting one of the shurikens explode. The panda threw his kunai at the jackrabbit. Zheng-Hau deflected it, but then heard a sickening _Shing!_

"Oh no," Zheng muttered as he saw the thin thread pass over his line of sight. It was one of the rocket kunais. The cord went behind his head and as Zheng landed on the ground, Po yanked the cord, pulling Zheng-Hau towards him and struck him on the head with an open palm hand. Zheng-Hau laid flat on his back. Po drew his sword out and aimed it at Zheng-Hau's neck. "You *pant* you've definitely gotten better, Po. I'd even say you're better than me. Although, I think we should use a Kusari for that attack you used on me."

"What's that?" Po asked, sheathing his sword and helping the jackrabbit up.

"It's a long chain that's used in Japan. You couple it to your hands and use it kind of like a pulling or strangling weapon."

"Ah, nice to uh... know," Po said. "Maybe I won't use that." Tai and Tigress looked at their training from afar.

"He's mastered weaponry, and it's near the time for us to 'decide' what to say to Zheng-Hau. Well, this is good for us," Tai-Lung said, stretching his back again in their spot. Tigress rolled her eyes.

"You know, I would think that the infamous Tai-Lung would learn to be more alert towards an enemy," She chided. Tai-Lung growled in a low tone.

"And I would think that a friend of Po would learn to be careful about how she labels people she doesn't know," He replied. He wasn't talking about himself. Before Tigress could answer, Lin rushed into Zheng-Hau and Po's training ground.

"Lin, what's wrong?" Zheng-Hau asked.

"Bandits," Lin panted, "Some of the bandits are attacking the citizens."

"What about the army you have?" Po asked. Lin finished catching her breath as she looked down, almost ashamed. "Lin, what's wrong?"

"Some of the bandits look like they're a part of the citizen army we have," Lin sighed. Zheng-Hau stood wide-eyed and gaping mouth, but Po quickly assessed the situation.

"We have to stop them!"

"How?" Lin halted him, "It's going to be impossible to tell who's on our side and who isn't."

"Every bandit group has a leader you can punch," Po replied.

"How would you know that?" Zheng-Hau asked, raising his eyebrow and crossing his arms. Po was about to answer, but Tigress and Tai-Lung jumped out of their hiding place. "You were spying on us?"

"Do you want to argue or do you want to protect the people you said you would protect?" Tai-Lung growled out. Po received Zheng's suspicious glare before following the masters.

* * *

Monkey and Viper struck an ox bandit down while Crane attacked the other. "Hey, I'm on your side!" Shouted the ox.

"Oh, sorry," Crane apologized, helping the bandit up. The village was in chaos. Thousands of tough soldier-looking bandits raided several houses in the village, but the Furious Five couldn't tell who was who. Only the people in Zheng-Hau's army seemed to know, but that was because the army knew each other in this particular village. Some of the bandits were obvious to find, but the others were nubilous.

"How do we find out which one is which?" Mantis shouted as Zheng-Hau, Po, and the others arrived.

"Zheng, how do you figure out who's on your side," Po asked his teacher.

"I... I don't know," Zheng-Hau panicked, "Just form a line and take care of the ones that are obvious."

"We can't just let the bandits start stealing," Po replied in haste. Just then, a row of large gorilla bandits charged towards them. As they were about to fight them, Yun jumped over Zheng-Hau, Po, and the others' heads and knocked the gorillas back with her staff. She twirled the staff in her hand before striking the other two gorillas down. Yun quickly spotted a goat running out of a house and tackled him to the ground, putting the goat in a chokehold with her staff. "Whoa," Po marveled.

"Do not mess with the fox," Tai-Lung muttered to Zheng-Hau.

"All the people loyal to us have a mark of a bunny on their left shoulder!" She shouted to the others, "Take care of the others! GO!" With that info, the team raced to round up all of the bandits. A large boar watched the whole thing unfold with rage on a rooftop. His teeth gritted as he clenched his fist and debated in his mind whether to call off the attack. He was a long-time opponent of Po, leading raids and heists around all of China.

"Curse that panda!" Ru blurted out.

"Weren't expecting me to be here, Ru?" said a voice behind him. The boar chortled with spittle splattering out his largemouth.

"Ah, Po. It's been a long time," The boar leader smirked as he turned around. "You've gotten a new look." He remarked, noticing the red cloak.

"What are you doing here, Ru," Po demanded.

"Well, normally, I would just say to steal, but I've been given orders to give the bunny a bad name," Ru replied.

"Zheng-Hau?" Po guessed. Ru smirked as he took out his heavy hammer. "Who sent you?" Po fixed his eyes with his furrowed brow.

"Wouldn't you like to know, Dragon Warrior," Ru growled, grunting as he swung the huge hammer around. Po dodged out of the way, letting the hammer smash to the roof underneath them. Po kept dodging the boar's swings for a while before flipping over the boar's head and kicking him back. With the hammer away from him, Po fought him head-on, deflecting and blocking Ru's punches. Ru kicked up the dirt underneath his feet, spraying it into Po's eyes. Ru bodyslammed Po back as he picked up his hammer and was about to smash Po's head in. "Well, it looks like you're out of tricks, panda."

"No, I'm just waiting for my friend," Po smirked as Zheng-Hau jumped up to the roof and kicked the boar back. Ru stumbled back, dropping the hammer to his side and Zheng-Hau threw an explosive kunai that blew Ru off the roof and into a crate of fruit, immobilizing him. Zheng and Po jumped down and faced him while the chaos surrounding them went on. "Thanks, Zheng-Hau."

"Don't mention it," Zheng-Hau smiled.

"Hehe, I should have known that the Dragon Warrior would stick his nose into this," Ru muttered.

"What was that?" Zheng-Hau demanded from the boar. Po's body suddenly heated up as his eyes darted back and forth.

"Oh, you didn't tell him, chubby? You're friend there is the legendary Dragon Warrior," Ru smirked. Zheng-Hau looked at Po as he asked Ru.

"What about the snow leopard?"

"Tai-Lung? That traitor is the infamous Tai-Lung that wrecked the Valley of Peace village and the panda's first villain," Ru grunted, about to get out of the mess when Zheng-Hau simply threw a small dart at his exposed chest, instantly making him fall asleep.

"Is this true, Po?" Zheng-Hau asked, his face glaring at the panda for an answer. Po's heart pounded against his ribcage as he slowly spoke the truth.

**continued...**

**I would like to apologize to my friends and readers. I was worried that my style of writing was mediocre because of the low reviews. Then I realize it was my own fault because I wasn't truly giving you my best. I laugh at this story now because I realize that I was trying to give you a lecture rather than a story. Because of this, I will try and change the pace and focus of this story to help you better understand what I'm going for. **


	10. Alas My Brother

Alas My Brother

* * *

"That's the last of them," Yun exclaimed, dragging legs of the last bandit onto the heap of groaning bandits.

"There may be a thing to this self-defense thing," Tai-Lung commented to them.

"Well, I don't think it's a good idea anymore. It would be hard for an army to track down who the bandits and who the citizens were," Lin sighed, looking at the chaos.

BANNNGGG!

"What was that?!" Yun shouted.

"Mantis, Viper, Crane, Monkey, stay here with the bandits. We'll be back," Tigress instructed as she and Tai-Lung ran after the sound of the explosion. Yun and Lin darted after them. Soon, they saw Po struggling to get up. "PO! What happened?" Tigress asked, sliding to his side and helping him onto his feet. Po coughed and panted.

"It was Zheng-Hau. He... He attacked me," Po sighed, bowing his head. "He threw three explosive kunais at me. I ran far enough to avoid the blast, but I'm not sure that Ru made it."

"What?! Why?!" Lin exclaimed.

"He found out that you were the Dragon Warrior?" Yun guessed. Everyone looked at her. "Most servants aren't treated with the amount of warmth and care that you are. Plus, reports from the official that Zheng-Hau overthrew mentioned a panda warrior unlike anyone else, but with the biggest heart known to animal-kind. I knew after I first escorted you home."

"Then why didn't you say anything?" Lin asked, creasing her face into a frown.

"Because Zheng-Hau doesn't truly know the movement he's trying to make," Yun replied in a cryptic tone. "And the Mongolians will use that indecision to attack China. Imagine this raid with people who were just here to kill us and not take our stuff. Once I learned that Zheng-Hau trained under Zhao, I knew that this movement wasn't Zheng-Hau's original idea." Po gritted his teeth as he clenched his fists.

"Then what was?" Po asked the fox. Yun was silent for a moment.

"I think you know that answer more than anyone, Po," Yun replied. Po blinked at Yun several times before dropping his head with a sigh. He lifted it back up and smiled at the fox.

"You're very crafty and shrewd, Yun," Po complimented.

"I've been told that," Yun replied with a smirk. Lin looked at the fox and panda with eyes threatening shed tears.

"Lin, I'm so sorry," Po said with his head hung low. Lin looked at the fox.

"What I did helps to ensure that Zheng-Hau is still redeemable to the rest of China," Yun argued with a glare at the hare. "I know that you want to make a world where the victim isn't a victim, but that's not the world we live in," Yun sighed, rubbing her arm. "There will always be a victim" Lin sighed as well, hugging Po.

"I know you too well to think you would have any evil intentions towards anyone," Lin replied with tears in her eyes, "Please... save Zheng-Hau."

"We don't even know where he is," Tigress mentioned.

"I know where he is," Po sighed, rushing after the jackrabbit's trail. Tigress and Tai-Lung followed. Lin looked at Yun. The fox, expecting a harsh criticism, was surprised to get a warm hug.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" Yun almost laughed, "I should be the one to say sorry."

"I was living a fantasy of what I wanted, but you've actually lived in reality," Lin replied. Yun sighed, glancing at the direction that Po and the others left.

"Not always," She whispered.

* * *

"Come on, we have to hurry," Po hastily charged as they darted through the woods.

"Po, what are you going to do if you find him?" Tigress asked.

"I hope you don't do the same thing you did for me," Tai-Lung cautioned, "Zheng-Hau's is different."

"No... he's just like me," Po mumbled to himself. They ran through the woods before they got to the clearing where Zheng-Hau and Po would spar. "He's not here."

"Maybe he's gone up north where his base is," Tigress proposed.

Then, it happened.

_Shoock!_

"ARGGHH!" Tigress cried out, falling to the ground. Tai-Lung and Po caught her, seeing two arrows lodged into the back of her shoulder and leg "I'm fine. I'm fine." Tai-Lung immediately took the arrows out. Po saw through the leaves and trees and saw Zheng-Hau. The panda glared straight at him, tearing pieces of his cloak and wrapping it around Tigress's shoulder and leg.

"Get her back to Mantis, Tai."

"Po, don't do anything stupid," Tai-Lung grunted. Another round of arrows sung through the air. Po took out his swords and deflected each arrow. He threw a smoke bomb to the ground, covering their tracks.

"Take her now, GO!" Po shouted. Tai-Lung took Tigress in his arms and darted out of the smoke cloud, making it out of the clearing.

"Why didn't he shoot you?" Tigress grunted in pain.

"I'm not the one he's trying to hurt," Tai-Lung replied as he ran to safety. The wind blew the smoke cloud away. Po had his sword unsheathed, waiting for the jackrabbit's next move. Surprisingly, Zheng-Hau simply came out of the woods with his arms crossed. His glare was apparent, his jaw set, and Po was sure there was some kind of weapons in his hands. But he spoke first.

"Fine day for a spar, isn't it, Po?"

"Zheng-Hau, I'm sorry."

"For what?" Zheng-Hau asked with an unnervingly calm tone, "For your lies? Your betrayal? Or that you basically were only close to me because I was your enemy?"

"It wasn't any of that," Po replied in a soothing voice, keeping his hands up for any sudden moves. "I wanted to know who you were before doing anything drastic."

"Yet here we are!" Zheng-Hau shouted at him. Tears started brimming his face.

"Zheng, I just felt like there was something that you weren't telling me, Lin, Yun, or anyone. The true reason for this movement isn't to empower the weak, is it? It's to try and get over your weakness."

"Shut up!" Zheng-Hau shouted. He wiped his tears away, revealing that his hands had nothing in them. Po lowered his sword for a moment. "You don't know anything about me."

"That's a lie and you know it. Because I know what it's like to feel worthless and useless, especially now that I'm Dragon Warrior," Po shot back. "Please Zheng-Hau, we don't have to do this."

"I think we do," Zheng-Hau said with a cold glare as he took out his own katana. Zheng-Hau hopped up high into the air and came down with blade extended and clashed with Po's blade.

**Continued...**


	11. Fear

Fear

* * *

Zheng-Hau jumped back and threw his shurikens at the panda. Po dodged three and caught the fourth, checking it and putting in his pocket. Zheng threw a smoke kunai, surrounding Po in a cloud of smoke. Zheng threw loud firecrackers into the cloud to distract Po. The jackrabbit darted into the smoke and expected to be behind Po. Zheng-Hau ducked at the sound of the shuriken Po caught. If it came from Zheng's left that meant- "Oh no," The jackrabbit muttered as Po jumped through the smoke like an eagle bearing down on its prey. The panda's gritted teeth and raging stare bore into the jackrabbit's widened eyes as Po punched the ground where Zheng-Hau was. The rabbit barely evaded the crushing punch. The punch blew the smoke away. While in the air, Zheng-Hau threw two of his explosive kunais at Po. Po quickly ran from them as they exploded. "You expect me to be accepted now? After everything I've done, there's no going back!" Zheng-Hau shouted as he ran after the panda.

"There is," Po argued, stopping in his tracks and blocking the swing of Zheng-Hau's katana with his kunai. "Tai-Lung used to be the most infamous person in all of China. In some parts, he still is," Po reminded the rabbit as he rolled Zheng-Hau's hand around, grabbed it, and forced Zheng's hand to the panda's left side. The two glared at each other face to face. "But that hasn't stopped us from forgiving him." Zheng-Hau shifted his right arm and revealed a kunai in the hand that Po caught. The panda quickly pushed him back, dodging the jackrabbit's sharp swing. Zheng threw another smoke bomb and then an explosive kunai straight in front of Po. Po remembered that the smoke mix was flammable. He jumped out of the smoke, just in time to avoid the ball of flame. Po stumbled to the ground. He looked to his left and saw Zheng-Hau's glimmering sword out to slice Po in half. The panda blocked it using two shurikens in his fingers.

"Okay, that's one way of blocking a sword," Zheng-Hau said, truly surprised at the improvision of the panda. While on his back, Po kicked the rabbit back and jumped to his feet. Zheng-Hau ran straight towards Po, swinging his sword left and right. Po dodged and ducked each slice. His two swords were strapped to his back, but he tried to win Zheng-Hau over without harming him. "You're going to have to fight back, Po."

"What's the point of us fighting, Zheng?!" Po shouted, getting nicked across his arm. "Ahh! I know you don't want to hurt me!" He mentioned noticing Zheng-Hau's worried look at Po's nicked fur. "So why fight me?"

"Because!" Zheng-Hau shouted, swinging his katana across. Po pulled his sword out and blocked the jackrabbit's swing, but the shockwave ripped through the ground. They were both very powerful. "You told me that insecurities were just stories! You just said that so you could get close to me! I've had to fight my weaknesses. I was always told my insecurities would be my downfall. That they were a sign of my weakness on the outside. You overcame your insecurities by just saying they were stories. But mines are more than just stories, Po! They're my life!" Zheng-Hau shouted. Zheng-Hau jumped back and threw a smoke bomb and explosive kunai, straight at Po's feet to pin him down. The jackrabbit jumped out of the smoke cloud as the ball of smoke lit up in flames. Zheng-Hau stuck his landing, waiting for the cloud of smoke to clear. Suddenly, a metal change sprung out the smoke cloud and wrapped around his torso. It was a long Kusari. It pulled Zheng-Hau back into the cloud of smoke, right where Po was.

"Then change it!" Po shouted as he headbutted the jackrabbit. Zheng-Hau fell to the ground unconscious. Po took this opportunity to take his cloak and all of his weapons off before he woke up again. Po simply sat in front of him, finding some supplies that they had from their previous sparring sessions to make tea. When Zheng came to, he woke up with a start, noticing a cup of tea placed before him. "You're up," Po acknowledged. Zheng-Hau looked up at the sky. It was about sunset.

"How long was I out?"

"About an hour," Po answered, sipping his own tea. Zheng-Hau rubbed his sore head. "Sorry about the headbutt."

"That's one way of knocking some sense into me," Zheng-Hau joked. Po laughed a bit. They both sipped their tea in silence. "Po... How?"

"How what?" Po sighed, placing his tea down.

"How are you so brave?" Zheng-Hau asked. His eyes began to get watery. "How are you free?"

"I'm not," Po replied, scooting closer to Zheng-Hau, "I just accept that my insecurities are a part of me. Accepting your weaknesses isn't a weakness, it's a strength. Knowing that this is a part of who you are will help you better understand that that is what makes you unique."

"Even my extensive knowledge of weaponry?" Zheng-Hau asked.

"Especially that. The good and the bad are all part of you. Yes, you can 'purify' your identity to get rid of the corrupted parts of you, but you are who you are. And because of that," Po said with a smile, "it can cause you to do great things. Look at the movement you've made. I couldn't have done it the way you have."

"You probably would have done it better," Zheng-Hau chuckled, but soon his smile disappeared. "I'm just... tired of being afraid."

"Then just accept it," Po said. Zheng-Hau's eyes gazed at the panda, who was eating a sweet juicy peach. Slowly, a smile crept onto the jackrabbit's face and he smiled.

"You're right. My insecurities are always going to be with me, but it's... just a story I've been telling myself."

"And there we go!" Po congratulated the jackrabbit, hugging him tightly and lifting him up off the ground. "You finally got it!"

"PO! CALM DOWN!" Zheng-Hau laughed as the panda did so. "Come on, let's go back. I think I have a lot of apologizing to do."

"Don't worry, I'm sure that Lin and Yun will forgive you," Po happily smiled.

"What about the Furious Five? And the big guy?"

"Well, I would be surprised if Tai-Lung didn't, but I'm sure the Furious Five will."

"And Master Tigress?"

"Pray for mercy," Po said in a foreboding tone that scared the crap out of the jackrabbit. "But I know that Shifu is eager to have you back."

"He is?" Zheng-Hau asked.

"Yeah. I think he wants to start things better than they did," Po explained.

"Well, we'll have to start then," Zheng-Hau sighed. "I'll send a letter of stability to the emperor myself. I would restore the regional officer to his place, but his practices are a little-"

"It's okay. I'll sign it so he knows that everything is okay," Po replied.

"Hehe," Zheng-Hau sighed, getting up and putting his cloak back on that Po tossed him. "And Po? Thank you for coming back to save me."

"That's what friends are for," Po smiled.

* * *

"Ahh!" Tigress cried out as Mantis stuck the needle in.

"That should do it," Mantis replied as Yun and Crane finished bandaging Tigress. "What happened to Po?"

"He's facing Zheng-Hau at the training grounds," Tai-Lung answered with a sigh.

"Alone?" Viper exclaimed, about to slither out the door, but Tai-Lung stopped the snake.

"I'm sure that he's fine. Trust Po," Tai-Lung stilled the viper. Viper slithered back before the door opened, showing the panda and the jackrabbit, none the worse for wear. Lin and Yun ran up to Zheng and hugged him tightly.

"Thank goodness you're okay," Lin cried out.

"We were worried sick," Yun said, her eyes reddening.

"I'm sorry," Zheng-Hau sighed, rubbing his left arm. "Po knocked some sense into me." He directed his attention to the Furious Five. "I've decided to call off this movement. I started it because of... false intentions. I'm sorry that you were affected by my own... denseness. I hope one day you can forgive me." The team was quiet for a while before Viper slithered over to him and offered him a smile.

"No," She said flatly. Zheng's head sank dramatically. Viper chuckled a bit before lifting the jackrabbit's head up with her tail. "I'm just kidding. Of course, we forgive you."

"We had to forgive this big lug," Mantis commented.

"Thank you, Mantis," Tai-Lung growled lowly. Then Zheng-Hau gulped as he slowly walked over to Tigress, who was still resting on her back. He bowed low to her.

"I am... so sorry for hurting you, Master Tigress. I don't know what I was thinking," Zheng-Hau nervously quaked on his two feet. "Please forgive me. You know, when you find the time to heal from your wounds and... stuff," Zheng-Hau mumbled and bumbled. Tigress glared at him for a while. She simply rolled her head away from him. Tai-Lung chuckled at the frightened jackrabbit.

"Don't worry about her. She'll warm up to you much faster than she did with me. Besides, it's not every day you can say you managed to injure the great Master Tigress with just a bow and arrow," Tai-Lung grinned, coupled with a chortle. Zheng-Hau quickly nodded, whispering one more apology. Yun couldn't stop smiling at the jackrabbit from where she stood.

"Are you okay, Yun?" Po asked.

"I'm fine. It's just funny how brave he is now compared to how he was a moment ago," Yun replied.

"How is he brave now?" Po inquired of her.

"It's one thing to aimlessly attack your fears. It's another thing to face them head-on," The fox explained. Po looked at the jackrabbit repeatedly bowing and apologizing to Tigress while Tai-Lung laughed on.

"I guess you're right," Po replied with a smile.

**Continued...**


	12. Return to the Palace

Return back to the Palace

* * *

The next few days consisted of dismantling Zheng's army. The Emperor kindly excused the actions of Zheng-Hau and pardoned him. He even gave the soldiers in Zheng-Hau's army the position of being supervisors of the officers that were supposed to rule the providence. Zheng-Hau watched as the village beneath him returned to its normalcy. "Weird, huh?" Po said as he walked up to the hill Zheng was on. The jackrabbit nodded, looking at the villagers going about their daily business.

"It's amazing how quickly people return to their regular lives," Zheng-Hau sighed. "This only proves that I was making the wrong choice."

"Well, now you have time to make the right ones," Po proposed. Zheng-Hau smiled at him as he lightly punched Po in the arm. "So... I have a question?"

"Shoot?"

"What was your actual insecurity?" Po asked, a little confused. "It was really confusing when we were fighting."

"I guess you can sum it up into this: I don't see value in myself. But after seeing you, I know that there is value in me. I am worthy of... life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Most importantly, I'm worthy of love."

"Wow," Po replied with a smile, but soon Zheng-Hau's smile disappeared.

"I just don't know what that looks like, sometimes," The jackrabbit sighed. "It sometimes feels like no one cares."

"That's the best thing in the world," Po smiled.

"Huh?"

"If no one cares, that means you can be who you want to be. Zheng, I mess up a lot of times. Don't you think I should have low self-esteem?"

"Yeah, you do mess up a lot," Zheng-Hau commented with a smirk.

"The point is," Po huffed, "that I don't have that self-esteem problem because I've learned that I can't be someone that I'm not. I have to be who I am: Me. I have to be-"

"Real," Zheng-Hau finished. "I have to be honest with my faults. Because it's through our weaknesses that we're stronger than ever." Po nodded, resting his hand on Zheng-Hau's shoulder. "So, we don't have anything to fear, except the fear of being someone other than ourselves. We can't be afraid of being ourselves."

"Maybe that was your fear? That you were afraid that people wouldn't accept the real awkward you?" Po guessed. Zheng-Hau sighed.

"Yeah," he mumbled.

"Well, if they can accept me, then they'll accept you," Po smiled. Zheng-Hau was encouraged by that.

"Thank you, Po," Zheng-Hau smiled. "The only problem now is figuring out where I'll go after this." Po twiddled with his fingers as he thought about what he would say next. "Po, what are you thinking?" Zheng-Hau asked, seeing the panda's anxious twitch.

"Nothing, I was just thinking that... the Jade Palace could always use another skilled fighter," Po grinned nervously. Zheng-Hau's face fell into a scowling frown. "I know, I know, it makes no sense to go back, but maybe you do belong there. I know that Shifu is wanting you to come back, not as a servant, but as a friend." Zheng-Hau continued to look Po for a while before smiling.

"I think I'll take you up on that offer," Zheng-Hau replied.

"Awesome!" Po exclaimed as the two walked down the mountain. Suddenly, Po couldn't stop chuckling to himself.

"What's up?"

"Oh, I'm just remembering how I was before your whole rebellion started up," Po explained, "I was dealing with a thought in my head that... made me look for a way to slim myself down," He said chuckled. Zheng-Hau was confusingly shocked.

"Why would you want to slim down. You're already small for a panda," Zheng-Hau replied.

"Well, I was looking around the scrolls of the Jade Palace to see if there was anything about pandas and how they could lose weight. Or if there were any serious pandas in history I could learn from. That's how I started learning about weaponry," Po answered.

"What gave you the idea that you needed to change your look?" Zheng-Hau asked. Po told him. The jackrabbit stopped in his tracks. He glowered at Po, crossing his arms as he raised his right hand to count off. "First off," He started, "No one worthy of your time will think of you like that. If they do, kick them to the curb and let them have whoever hurt you."

"Geez, harsh," Po mumbled.

"Second, title aside, you are the greatest person I've ever seen in my entire life. I mean, second to me, of course," Zheng-Hau joked.

"Hey," Po smirked back.

"And third," Zheng-Hau finished with heavier gravity in his tone, "While we know that you can always change for the better, that doesn't mean that I, the Furious Five, Tai-Lung, Lin, Yun, your fathers, or anyone that truly appreciates you like you any differently. And hey," He said, placing his hand on Po's heart. Zheng-Hau's height was about to the top of Po's stomach. "If we ever start to see you any different, then it means _we're_ not worthy of you."

"Hehe, you're very encouraging, Zheng-Hau," Po replied with a smile.

"I guess it's easier to try and help someone else with their problems than face your own. However, I'm starting to see that by helping others, we find the strength to help ourselves," Zheng-Hau said. Po yawned, stretching his arms again.

"Well, enough weird confusing proverbs for now. Let's get back to the Jade Palace. I'm sure that Shifu is anxious to meet you again," Po smiled. Zheng smiled back.

"Thanks, Po."

* * *

"UGH! I forgot I hate these stairs!" Zheng-Hau cried out, hopping and skipping the stairs with his rabbit legs.

"At least you can hop up," Po grumbled, "Us lay people have to use each of the stairs."

"I don't know why you guys complain so much about the stairs," Crane smiled widely. **Everyone** glared at him.

"Say that again, Crane. I dare you," Tai-Lung grunted, cracking his knuckles. Crane chuckled nervously as the others laughed. Tigress walked up the stairs with an arm sling. She walked up the stairs behind everyone next to Tai-Lung.

"Come on, Po. Let's see how well you can cook. The original cook of the Jade Palace is back with his Roushi soup," Zheng-Hau challenged.

"That was you who made that?" Viper said with her reptile mouth dropped wide. "It was so good!"

"Oh you're on," Po smirked, racing Zheng-Hau up the stairs with a new speed. Tai-Lung noticed the tiger's silence and sour look. Tai-Lung shook his head.

"Are you still upset about Zheng-Hau? I'm surprised you're so against him," Tai-Lung commented.

"Why?" Tigress grunted with a bit of disdain.

"I can understand you disliking me because, admittedly, I was less than an ideal person."

"A criminal and an ambitious selfish-"

"The point is that while I'm all those terrible things, Zheng-Hau isn't any of those things," Tai-Lung pointed out. Tigress looked away from Tai-Lung's gaze for a moment. "What's going on in that head of yours?"

"I... I don't want to talk about it," Tigress grunted followed by a sigh. Tai-Lung grumbled under his breath as they continued walking up the stairs.

"Well, maybe you should talk to Zheng-Hau." Tigress's head shot up from looking at the stairs to the snow leopard's eyes.

"Why would I do that?" Tigress asked.

"If there's something about him that you're worried about, then I think you should talk with him face to face instead of talking to the people around him," Tai-Lung explained. Tigress's eyes narrowed at the snow leopard.

"I don't even know him."

"Well, you didn't know Po to begin with," Tai-Lung rebutted, walking up the stairs ahead of Tigress while she stood there thinking to herself. She huffed a sigh of reluctance and moved on up the steps.

**Continued...**


	13. Be careful of who you don't trust

Be Careful of Who You Don't Trust

* * *

The jackrabbit and the panda stood side by side at the gate of the Hall of Heroes. Po looked to his left and saw Zheng tapping his foot at a rapid pace and clenching and unclenching his hands. It was time to meet Master Shifu. "Hey, it's alright."

"Says you, you live here," Zheng-Hau whispered.

"I'll be by you all the way, buddy," Po said, giving the jackrabbit a thumbs up. Zheng-Hau smiled and steadily breathed.

"There is nothing to fear except yourself," Zheng-Hau said to himself.

"What was that?" asked Po.

"It's something I came up with recently. The only thing I have to fear is what I think of myself already. What others say is not important unless it's true and I can fix it," Zheng-Hau replied. Po quietly thought about the statement as the doors opened. Zheng and Po saw Shifu standing erectly right behind the gates. Shifu's eyes widened at the sight of Zheng-Hau.

"Zheng-Hau, you're here," Shifu said. Zheng bowed to the floor.

"I am sorry for abandoning my position here at the Jade Palace. I'm sorry for inciting war crimes against China, the Jade Palace, and you, Master Shifu. I know you and Oogway did everything in your power to help me, but I chose the route that I did by myself. I humbly ask that I come back to the Jade Palace as a lowly servant," Zheng-Hau struggled to say in a trembling voice. Shifu's eyes widened again, looking at Po and then back at Zheng-Hau. Shifu placed his hand over his own heart and smiled as he planted his hand on Zheng's shoulder, motioning him to stand up.

"There is no need for formalities among people who are a part of our community. Welcome home," Shifu smiled. Zheng-Hau's eyes must have widened out of their sockets. He suddenly hugged Master Shifu, surprising the red panda as Shifu slowly hugged back. "I'm sorry for not helping you earlier."

"You couldn't have," Zheng-Hau sniffled, releasing Shifu. "I wasn't listening and you were hurting too much with your problems. The journey I took was hard, but I learned a lot from it."

"Po?" Shifu guessed with a knowing smile.

"Po," Zheng-Hau replied.

"Hey, what is that supposed to mean?" Po huffed. The jackrabbit and the red panda smiled.

"You are welcome back here, not as a servant, but as a capable warrior," Shifu smiled. Zheng-Hau's mouth parted gaped open. "You've proven that you can defend yourself against the Furious Five. I heard reports about your skills from the others... mostly Po."

"I'm right here," Po muttered.

"You are welcomed to stay here as a warrior if you're willing to keep Po on his toes," Shifu smirked. Zheng-Hau smiled.

"I think I can do that."

"Again, I'm right here," Po mentioned. Zheng and Shifu smiled widely at each other.

* * *

Tigress sat down in the kitchen, still rubbing her bandaged arm. Her leg was fine. Zheng-Hau's arrow struck it in a spot that just made it uncomfortable to stand on, but not impossible to walk on. She had already struggled through Zheng-Hau's hour-long apology session. She smiled a bit at the memory. He reminded her of Po. She sniffed the air. "Speaking of which," Tigress smirked as the panda came through the kitchen entryway.

"Hey," He nervously grinned. "How's the... arm?"

"It's fine. I'll be back in a few days," Tigress smiled as Po got a bowl of dumplings and sat down next to her. They were silent for a while. Statistically, Po couldn't stay in complete silence for more than 10 seconds. When 20 seconds past, Tigress decided to speak.

"Po/Tigress, I-" They both spoke at the same time.

"You first," Po said.

"Po, I want to apologize for not trusting you on this mission. With how things were going, I thought you were siding with Zheng-Hau for a while. That's why I was... cautious with you around him."

"Why would you think that?"

"You two seemed to form a very fast and deep bond. And Tai-Lung's words didn't help with my worries," Tigress grumbled. Po's eyes narrowed.

"What did he say?" He questioned.

"He was constantly at ease with you being around Zheng-Hau. He kept criticizing me for worrying about you and not trusting you," Tigress sighed. "Looking back, I think he was right to criticize me."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that," Po smiled, patting Tigress on the shoulder. He retracted it, laughing it off nervously. Tigress simply smiled. "Zheng and I just... seem to know each other very well."

"To the point that you trust him as much as you do with me?" Tigress asked. Po was going to answer but decided to stop.

"He and I just... really connect," Po said. "Anyways, I'll leave you to your privacy."

Tigress's half-lidded eyes quirked one eyebrow up. "Wait," Tigress halted him as he stood up, "What were you going to say?"

"Yeah Po," said a familiar voice in the kitchen doorway, "What were you going to say?" Tai-Lung smirked. Po glared the snow leopard before rolling his eyes.

"I forgot," Po replied as he left the room, "I'm going down to see how Zheng is. I'll see you guys in a moment."

"Hmm, it looks like he's doing better," Tai-Lung commented with a knowing grin

"I hope that it's permanent," Tigress sighed. Tai-Lung noticed her sadness.

"What's wrong?"

"Do you think Zheng-Hau has become closer to Po than us?" Tigress asked. Tai-Lung thought about it but then smiled with a small laugh.

"I think that's a question you'll have to talk to Zheng-Hau about first before you have the answer," Tai-Lung said.

"You know that doesn't help me," Tigress growled. Tai-Lung smirked, walking away.

"You'll figure it out," Tai-Lung replied.

Tigress sighed, getting up from her plate of food. She walked over to the Training Hall, opening it to see Zheng-Hau and Po facing each other, about to spar. Both were without their weapons' cloak. "You got me last time, but let's see if you can get me this time on hand to hand," Zheng-Hau smirked.

"Bring it," Po simpered back. As they sparred, Zheng-Hau's hand-to-hand fighting improved, dodging the panda's unpredictable blows. Po's smirk was glued to his face the whole time.

"You're doing very well, Zheng," said a gentle voice from the sidelines. Tigress looked and saw Viper standing with Yun the fox. "Keep it up!" Yun encouraged. Zheng-Hau smiled, but it turned into a frown when he heard a quick whooshing noise. He looked up and saw Po's hand cocked back, ready for the punch. Zheng-Hau grabbed onto Po's fist and threw himself behind Po's back, guiding the fist away from him. Zheng landed on Po's back and pushed off, letting Po's punch crush the ground. Zheng-Hau looked back at the deep crater, panting heavily and gazing fearfully at the crater.

"Since when have you been strong enough to do that!?" Zheng-Hau exclaimed.

"Eh, I don't know. Gain some muscles?" Po replied, flexing his biceps. As they continued sparring, Tigress walked over to Viper and Yun to watch.

"Zheng-Hau is pretty well-trained," Tigress commented to the two of them stoically.

"He's been getting better with Master Shifu and Po's help. He still teaches Po some weaponry skills, but he's really good," Viper answered back. Tigress looked down at the fox whose eyes were focused on Zheng-Hau.

"Yun?"

"Huh?" Yun mumbled a little startled. "Oh, Master Tigress." She bowed out of respect.

"You held yourself well when we were in the village. How long have you trained?" Tigress asked.

"Oh, well, even though I've known Zheng-Hau for only a month, I learned how to defend myself while I was a royal bookkeeper," Yun explained.

"And did Zheng-Hau help you further?"

"Yes... though Lin would be there sometimes," Yun mumbled with a roll of her eyes.

"You don't like Lin?"

"I love her," Yun corrected, "She's like a sister but sometimes I don't think she realizes what in front of her and she... unintentionally disregards it." Tigress's eyebrow rose as Yun continued to look at Zheng and Po's sparring.

"You mean that Lin doesn't realize that Zheng-Hau likes her," Tigress guessed. Yun looked up at the tiger, raising one cautious eyebrow. "That's the only thing I can guess from what you told me." Yun crossed her arms and glared at Tigress. Viper's eyes darted anxiously between Tigress and the fox. Yun breathed in and replied.

"A crafty shrewd nature, Master Tigress, is not always the best way for people to open up to you OR for you to open up to people."

"Excuse me?" Tigress said with a slight edge in her voice. Yun sighed, sagging her shoulders and looking at the jackrabbit and panda again.

"Yes," Yun said after a pause and returned to her smile. "She doesn't know that Zheng-Hau likes her."

"Why doesn't Zheng just tell her?" Viper asked. Tigress was curious too, but the look on Yun's face was humorous.

"I guess love makes people do strange things," Yun smiled.

"Meaning?" Tigress pressed on. Yun rolled her eyes.

"I can't tell you everything that's going on in Zheng-Hau's head," Yun politely remarked, "Good or bad." Viper nodded and left the two to go eat. Tigress stayed behind.

"Yet you seem to know him very well," Tigress couldn't help but comment. Yun shrugged.

"I've learned to read people very well. He's not difficult to read when you open up to him. But you already know this, right Master Tigress?" Yun mentioned.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Po and Zheng-Hau are the same, and I know that you've known him for a while. So you must have disclosed some personal things between the two of you," Yun replied. The vixen's mouth quirked into a small smirk. Tigress simply looked at the two's spar with an emotionless face.

"...Yeah," She replied quietly after a long pause. Yun sighed, feeling bad about mentioning it.

"Whatever is happening," Yun said to Tigress quietly, "between you and Po, I would simply say tell him." Tigress's head snapped down to her and growled in a low tone.

"There is nothing-"

"There's no point in getting upset with me, Master Tigress," Yun said, raising her hands up in surrender. "I could sense something was wrong when I escorted Po back to your house and when you ran off to get Zheng. If you don't want to talk about it, I completely understand that. I'm not the person to that, but you must understand that not talking about it doesn't make it go away." Tigress's features softened.

"Are you saying that from experience?" Tigress asked. Yun said nothing for a moment, gazing into oblivion. Her lips parted for a sigh while her shoulders sagged lower as Po and Zheng-Hau stopped sparring.

"You and I are similar, Master Tigress. Be careful of who you trust but also be careful of who you don't trust," With that, Yun walked over to Po and Zheng-Hau and celebrated with them as Tigress watched on in pensive silence.

**Continued...**


	14. The Tiger and The Hare

The Tiger and the Hare

* * *

Three days later, Zheng-Hau paced around, mumbling to himself as he walked up and down the first few flights of the Jade Palace stairs. "Lin, I know we've known each other for a while and... no, that's not it. Lin, I think I want to... No that's not it either!" Zheng-Hau exclaimed, falling flat on his back on the steps. "Ow," Zheng-Hau mumbled simply out of mere habit. "Ugh, how do I do this?"

"Are you okay?" said an intense female voice. Zheng-Hau jumped up when he heard Tigress's voice and bowed lowly.

"Master Tigress! I'm sorry I was-" Tigress stopped the jackrabbit with her raised hand. She showed a glint of a smile. Tigress looked down the village's dirt road, pondering a thought in her head.

"Why don't we take a walk?" Zheng's body wouldn't move for a moment, but he firmly believed Tigress could strangle him with her non-damaged hand. They walked silently down the quaint dirt road. Zheng-Hau repeatedly glanced at Tigress's bandaged shoulder. "It's healing. You were very merciful."

"You could tell?"

"Those arrows are specially equipped to be completely silent... You could have killed me," Tigress replied.

Zheng sighed, "I... I was just hurting. I'm really sorry that I-"

"Enough with the apologies," Tigress groaned, "You weren't thinking. You were hurt and felt betrayed. It's behind us." Zheng-Hau slowly nodded as he followed her.

"You move on quick," Zheng-Hau mentioned.

"You have to when you're dealing with pain. Otherwise, it never heals," Tigress said with her head held high. Zheng stopped in his tracks and crossed his arms. Tigress turned around. She was puzzled he had a furrowed closed-off look.

"So you just put it on the backburner?" Zheng-Hau declared more than he asked.

"Excuse me?" Tigress's glared with her raised eyebrow. Zheng shakily breathed in and out, lowering his racing heart.

"Leaving certain things on the backburner has never helped me," Zheng-Hau replied, walking up to her and staring straight in her eyes. "It's part of the reason why I left. Simply moving on and forgetting the incident ever happened is not the way life should be lived."

"Why?" Tigress growled, showing a slight view of her sharp teeth. Zheng-Hau gulped, but if he could fight this woman then he could talk to her without being afraid.

"Be... because," he stuttered, "if you forget the past, you'll be doomed to repeat it." Zheng-Hau sighed, "I'm sorry if I was disrespectful, but it's not right to simply move on when you truly haven't." Tigress's eyes slightly widened at the jackrabbit for a while before staring straight ahead.

"You weren't," She simply replied as they moved on. "So where are we going?"

"To Lin's place," Zheng-Hau replied. Lin and Yun moved into the Valley of Peace fairly easy. Lin worked for Mr. Ping while Yun's services were extremely useful at the Jade Palace. _We've never been so organized before in my lifetime_, Shifu had said.

"Why are you going over there?" Tigress questioned.

"I'm going to tell Lin that I have feelings for her," Zheng-Hau said. Tigress's head sharply turned to the jackrabbit with her eyes wide open. Zheng took no notice, but Tigress was surprised. First, because he said it so openly and casually. Second, because he was doing it. It reminded her of what Yun said and made her wonder how much Po was keeping from her. Tigress shook her head awake. She needed to be mentally present for this.

"Why now?" She asked.

"I won't be able to move on if I don't know for sure," Zheng-Hau replied as they came near the house. "Could you... uh..."

"I'll leave you to your privacy," Tigress bowed, going away a distance to browse at some vendors. She could still hear them from where she was, though. Zheng-Hau took one last breath before knocking on the door. The kind hare opened the door with a smile.

"Zheng! It's good to see you. I haven't seen you in the last three days," Lin smirked. It was true. He had been quite busy working with Master Shifu and the others to restore peace in the regions that he had 'radicalized' as some of the Furious Five said. Zheng-Hau and the others' relationship was understandably strained, but Po and, surprisingly, Tai-Lung seemed to make this transition in his life much easier.

"Hey Lin," Zheng-Hau smiled with a cute and shaky stance, causing Lin to giggle just a bit. "How is it going at Mr. Ping's shop?"

"It's nice. Mr. Ping's a little eccentric, but I like him a lot," Lin smiled. Zheng-Hau smiled back. "Anyway, what did you come here to talk about?"

"Um... well, ugh I how do I say this?" Zheng mumbled about.

"Is something wrong, Zheng?" Lin asked, reaching out to touch his shoulder. Zheng made a loud exhale.

"Something **is** wrong. I just can't find the words to say it," Zheng-Hau grumbled. He tapped his furry fingers against his head, trying to conjure up words.

"Zheng, you're making me worried. Did you want to come inside and talk about it?" Lin asked.

"Ugh! No, that won't help," Zheng-Hau muttered. "It's just... I'm very afraid of saying it." Lin placed her hand over her heart.

"Well, just remember, you don't have to be scared. Hey, if you can lead a movement, fight off the Furious Five and Tai-Lung, and clash swords with the Dragon Warrior, then you can do say this," Lin encouraged. Zheng-Hau blinked several times in silence.

"That's got to be the smartest thing you ever said to me," Zheng-Hau mumbled under his breath.

"Excuse me?" Lin asked, barely hearing him.

"Lin, I have feelings for you," Zheng-Hau finally came out and said it.

Tigress glanced behind her back, seeing the hare's shocked look while she silently kept looking at the vendor's items. "I apologize for taking so long," Tigress said to the vendor.

"Please take your time, Master Tigress," The vendor humbly bowed. Tigress graced a small smile as she continued eavesdropping on the hare and jackrabbit's conversation.

"You... you're serious?" Lin asked. Zheng-Hau rolled his eyes.

"Because I definitely tell jokes like this."

"Well, you don't tell them in situations like this," Lin remarked, placing her hand on her hips. Zheng-Hau rolled his eyes again.

"Yes, I do have feelings for you, Lin," Zheng-Hau declared rather than whispered. Lin frowned as her eyes looked down at the ground.

"Zheng, I-"

"I know that you don't feel the same way, but... I just wanted you to know," Zheng-Hau smiled. Lin still looked sad. In fact, she started trembling and shaking as her eyes closed and her hand covered mouth. "Uh Oh," Zheng-Hau muttered as he quickly held Lin's hands.

"I'm sorry, but I don't have any feelings towards you," She softly cried. "I don't want you to feel bad or like you're not loved, but... I just... I'm so sorry."

"Lin, Lin, it's okay," Zheng-Hau smiled, lifting her head up. "It's okay. I had an idea that you didn't like me back."

"But... but that doesn't mean that you're a bad person, Zheng! You know that!" Lin exclaimed loudly enough for Tigress AND the vender to hear.

"Eeee, I wonder what's happening over there," Said the vender to Tigress.

"Don't worry about it," Tigress said, "Just be glad you're not going through it."

"Well, I know that... and the whole village seems to know that now," Zheng-Hau muttered, regretting the fact they weren't inside now. "But I appreciate you telling me that."

"I'm sorry," Lin sighed, sniffling the last tears. "But I know that whoever chooses you will definitely have the time of their life."

"What makes you say that?" Zheng-Hau asked. Lin only smirked with a wink. "Oh," Zheng-Hau blushed brightly. "That... um... HEY! How do you know about that!"

"Hehe, I appreciate you, Zheng-Hau," She said, kissing him on his forehead. His long ears folded down as she kissed it. "And I'm sorry that I can't return your feelings."

"It's okay," Zheng-Hau smiled warmly. "It's just something I needed to get off my chest."

"I guess you knew that it was the right time to do this," Lin beamed. Zheng-Hau smiled and nodded. "Thank you for telling me, Zheng-Hau." She gave him one last hug before going back into her house. Zheng-Hau turned to Tigress with a smile and motioned her to come with him.

"So, how do you feel about it?" Tigress asked pointedly.

"Honestly? I feel free," Zheng smiled widely, looking at the sky.

"What did she mean by saying 'you knew that it was the right time to do this.'?" Tigress asked.

"She leaves in about five weeks," Zheng-Hau replied, shocking Tigress. "I'm surprised Po hasn't told you," Zheng-Hau elaborated.

"Of course he didn't," Tigress grumbled under her breath, staring up at the Jade Palace mountain. Her glare caused Zheng-Hau to look at her.

"Master Tigress, are you okay?" Zheng asked.

"I'm fine. I just need to rest for a bit," Tigress sighed.

"That's a lie," Zheng-Hau plainly said. Tigress stopped in her tracks.

"Excuse me?" She growled again.

"Oh, don't you dare get angry at me," Zheng-Hau grunted. "You're upset. Now, what's wrong?" Zheng-Hau demanded. The tigress wasn't expecting this, but the jackrabbit did not seem scared at all. Tigress leaned her back against the wall of a nearby house and sighed.

"I don't think you can help me with it."

"Oh I can't," Zheng-Hau shrugged, "But I can help _you_ try and understand it better," Tigress grumbled under her breath as she facepalmed herself. "Either way I see it, you're going to have to tell me if you want to avoid me pestering you until you finally explode," Zheng-Hau concluded with a child-like smile.

"I could just ignore you," Tigress proposed with a small growl. Zheng distanced himself a bit as he spoke softly this time.

"Would you rather talk with Tai-Lung?" Tigress's eyes widened and narrowed back at Zheng-Hau.

"Why would I talk with Tai-Lung about something so personal?" It was only then that Zheng-Hau became uneasy.

"W...wwell," He said, rubbing his left arm, "Po said you connect with Tai-Lung the same as I do with Po."

"What? No!" Tigress replied.

"Why are you so upset?"

"You're making it sound like Tai-Lung and I have a better connection than Po and me. I've known Po for much longer," Tigress answered. Zheng-Hau blinked several times before snickering a bit. The serious look on Tigress's face made Zheng-Hau realize she wasn't joking, which effectively made the jackrabbit stop laughing.

"Master Tigress," Zheng-Hau spoke respectfully, "I've known Lin since I was seven, and she didn't know that I liked her. Meanwhile, I've known Po for about two months and know that the bond we have is greater than the one I had for Lin. Time has nothing to do with how great of friends you are. It's what you've done in that time that really matters. How open you are with the person? Like Po was dealing with my problems."

"What problems?" Tigress asked, wondering what was going on with Po. Either Zheng didn't hear her or just didn't answer the question. Either way, he continued on.

"Yeah, but that's why I ask if you want to talk with Tai-Lung," Zheng-Hau said, returning back to the topic. Tigress was silent for a while, remembering what she said to Yun. She sighed.

"I... I think Po is closer to you than he with his friends."

"Namely you," Zheng-Hau clarified. Tigress flinched, looking at the floor.

"Yes," She said softly, slightly embarrassed. Zheng was silent for a while. Then he smiled.

"I understand," Zheng-Hau replied, surprising Tigress. "But maybe we seem that close because we're open with each other. How open are you with Po?" Zheng-Hau asked. Tigress thought about that question. "You don't have to tell me, but I hope that helped a bit with your problem."

"It... it did," Tigress slowly answered, grazing a smile on her face. "Thank you, Zheng-Hau." The jackrabbit simply smiled.

**Continued...**


	15. The Real Reason for this Story

The Real Reason for this Story

* * *

The two talked and walked up the mountain together. Tigress enjoyed the rabbit's company, even though with the weapons talk. His nervous speech and excited nature made it easy for Tigress adjust to. After all, he was just like Po.

"I can't figure out why you were so hard on yourself," Zheng said.

"What do you mean?"

"Master Tigress, you would train almost every time. To the point that your bones would break. Even I knew Shifu was pushing you too hard," Zheng-Hau answered with a roll of his eyes.

"Shifu wasn't the one pushing me," Tigress argued back, crossing her arms the best she could without hurting arm. "It was me that pushed myself," Tigress replied. Zheng-Hau's eyes widened. He backed away a bit in fear.

"That... that makes it worse. Because why would you break yourself so much for something... or someone," Zheng-Hau asked. Tigress fell silent as she looked down at the ground. Zheng-Hau rested his hand gently on her bandaged hand. "It wasn't all in vain. I'm just saying that you have to care for yourself before you start caring about others. Love others as you love yourself, not more than yourself." Zheng smiled. Just then, Po and Tai-Lung, chatting together, came over to the tiger and hare as Tigress smiled at the jackrabbit, bending down and hugging him. The panda and snow leopard were both too shocked for words. Well... Po tried saying words, but they mostly came out in splutters and gaspings. Zheng was shocked as well. "Uhhh..."

"Thank you," Tigress said, releasing him. Zheng-Hau shook off his surprise and looked at Po.

"Um..." Po stuttered.

"Tigress and I were just having a talk. Now, it's your turn to have a small talk with them," Zheng said.

"About what?" Po asked. Zheng rolled his eyes with a sigh as he walked over to Po and whispered in his ear. "WHAT?! NO!"

"They need to know," Zheng argued.

"And?! It's not my time to tell them yet!" Po argued frustrated, but Tigress could see the fear in the panda's frantic eyes.

"Po, I'm not going to be here all the time to talk to you about it."

"What are you, my therapist?" Po grunted.

"Po," Tigress butted in, "Whatever it is, I'm sure we won't tease you about it."

"I make no such promise," Tai-Lung said bluntly, making the panda glare at him.

"Yun said she needed me to help her with sparring. I hope you guys have a good rest of the day," Zheng-Hau said, giving one last look to Po before leaving. Po sighed, looking at his two feline friends in the face.

"Po, what's the matter?" Tigress asked. Po twiddled his fingers.

"It's... it's kind of the reason why I was upset before the whole Zheng-Hau happened." Po explained. The air was thick with silence. Tigress and Tai-Lung looked at each other. Tigress made a gesture with her head to get Tai-Lung to break the silence. Tai-Lung cleared his throat.

"Ahem, um Po... you don't have to do that if you don't want to."

"No," Po stopped him, "No, Zheng-Hau's right. If I don't trust you now, I won't trust you later." Po took a deep breath in and spoke. "When I was acting up that day, I was looking at you two sparring. Tai-Lung has a naturally great warrior bode and confidence to him. He's the crowning prince of what a Kung Fu Warrior should look like."

"Why thank you," Tai-Lung smiled smugly. Tigress punched him in the arm to bring the 'prince' back to earth. "So you were jealous of me?" He muttered, rubbing his arm.

"It... wasn't just that," Po sighed. "Please promise that you won't laugh or be upset about this next part."

"I promise," Tigress replied.

"I make no promises," Tai-Lung said, making the tiger growl. "What? I don't know what he's going to say."

"Fair enough," Po muttered. "Looking at Tigress, the same could be said about her. You two are really like a power couple even with your different ages. And me," Po sighed, walking backward until his back hit the wall of the courtyard. He slid down to the ground. He finally exploded."Something in my mind just said that if I were to date Tigress... or if I was dating someone like Tigress," Po quickly recovered, "someone like Tai-Lung would come along and steal her away from me... or maybe worse, cuckold me! Okay!? That's why I was trying to find scrolls in the Jade Palace about pandas! To see if there was anything that mentioned a panda losing weight or... something like that." Tai-Lung's eyes widened as did Tigress's. "Go ahead, laugh," Po muttered miserably. Tai-Lung squatted down to Po's level on his left while Tigress sat down next to Po's right side.

"This... is definitely not something I would laugh about," Tai-Lung said with surprising empathy. "Po, I understand that it may seem that the one with the biggest bravado wins the girl in the end. But life isn't like that. The person who's going be with you is going to choose you no matter what. Besides, most of the situations you're talking about only happen because the person isn't giving their significant other something that they desire, like attention or intimacy. Trust me, I know what it's like to have some special girl stolen from you."

"You do?" Po AND Tigress declared surprised. Tai-Lung rose an eyebrow as his muzzle scrunched up at the side of his mouth. He growled softly in annoyance.

"Why is that surprising?" Po and Tigress looked at each other.

"Master Shifu hasn't really been... forthcoming with your life outside the Jade Palace. We never thought there was anything more than just your obsession with the Dragon Scroll," Tigress explained to the snow leopard.

"Yeah, and I definitely thought you would have talked to Tigress about this before me," Po added.

"Why?" Tigress and Tai-Lung asked.

"Because I see you guys talking all the time. If it's not about Tai-Lung's own experience or Tigress's trouble, what do you guys talk about so much?"

"You," They both answered. Po's eyes widened.

"Why?"

"Well, most of our conversations always start off in a tit for tat, but then we always somehow go back to you," Tai-Lung explained, "A few times, we're just talking about how to do certain moves or figuring out what we did wrong with our last spar. Or which one had the better comeback."

"But most of it is just talking about our adventures with you and how you've changed us. We really don't have anything in common other than Shifu," Tigress added.

"Oh," Po slowly spoke, not sure how to respond. He felt as if his paradigm clattered apart like a pan dropped to the kitchen floor. So _he_ was the focus of their conversations? It made Po wonder what all of that worrying was for. He quickly shook his head. "Okay, now back to Tai-Lung's experience," Po said as he and Tigress looked at him. Tai-Lung sighed, looking at the sky. "Okay, stop that!"

"What?"

"Looking at the sky! Zheng-Hau, Shifu, and everyone like looking at the sky. Unless there's a hot pretty lady coming out of the clouds, stop!" Po exclaimed extremely annoyed. Tai-Lung rolled his eyes as Tigress smiled.

"Well, I had this girlfriend when I was around 16. I liked her, or I thought I did. But as I became obsessed with the Dragon Scroll, I began spending less and less time with her," Tai-Lung growled lowly after saying this. "Some part of me wants to blame Shifu for saying that one must restrain the passions to attain something better in life. We both thought I deserved the Dragon Scroll, so I can't blame him too much for steering me in that direction. Anyways, my girlfriend supported me, but she still wanted my attention and affection, which I was 'too busy' to give it to her." Tai-Lung paused, peering down in the village with blank eyes. "I often wonder if I had just given her more of my time, would I have wasted away in that prison? Would I have become the infamous Tai-Lung? And... would that have expelled some of the darkness that Oogway saw in me?" Tigress and Po were silent.

"Knowing your ambitious self, it wouldn't have," Tigress finally said, "It's probably for the best that you didn't involve other people." Tai-Lung nodded to her as he continued.

"Well, she started talking with someone else. I think he was a carpenter. I didn't think much of it until she said she was breaking up with me. When she told me who, I was livid. What made it worse was the fact that he was extremely chubby and fat. No offense Po."

"None taken, go on," Po said intently watching Tai-Lung and quickly motioning with his hand for the snow leopard to continue.

"When I asked why she would go out with someone like that when she had me, she replied that if she could receive love from him, then it was worth it. For a while, that confused me and I left it in the back of my mind. But after everything Po, the Spirit World, and now, I realize what she meant." Then Tai-Lung looked at Po. The furrowed eyebrows and small frown on his face made the snow leopard sigh. He didn't catch it. "Po, what if someone were to steal you away from your girlfriend?"

"What? Why would I do that?"

"Well, let's say your woman wasn't... adequate in the physical sense," Tai-Lung smirked in a suggestive manner. Po grumbled a bit, twiddling his thumbs.

"Ahh hehe, it shouldn't matter. I don't look at people like that. There's more to life than just... Ooooohh I see what you mean."

"Right, the person you eventually marry will choose you every single time," Tai-Lung wholeheartedly smiled, "Just remember that you have to choose her as well."

"Wow, thanks guys," Po smiled. Tai-Lung grunted.

"What do you mean 'thanks guyS'? I was the one recounting a hurtful memory. She was just sitting there," Tai-Lung grumbled while the tiger smirked.

"Needless to say, we were here for him and that's all that matters," Tigress smiled. Tai-Lung huffed, folding his arms. "Um... by the way, I'm a little confused about a word you two obviously understand. What does 'cuckold' mean?" Tigress asked. Tai and Po looked at each other with dread and nervousness. They played rock, paper, scissors for it. Po grumbled at the smirking snow leopard because he lost. So Po told her in a whisper. Tigress's eyes widened nearly out of their sockets, and she punched Po hard in the arm.

"OWWW!" Po screamed.

"Ha, Ha, Ha!" Tai-Lung laughed heartily.

"What was that for?" Po shot at a raging tiger.

"For thinking that I would ever do something cruel to you! And with Tai-Lung no less!" Tigress roared, her amber eyes bore into both of them.

"Hey, some guys actually find that stuff kinky," Tai-Lung smirked. Tigress growled at him before directing her attention back to Po. Tai-Lung chuckled one last time before standing back up. "I'm going to leave you two alone."

"WHAT?! Coward!" Po shouted in desperation as Tai-Lung left.

"But I'm a LIVE coward. Ha," Tai-Lung laughed. "Say hi to Oogway in the Spirit Realm for me." Po gulped at Tigress's stern glare. Her mouth parted as her teeth and fangs glistened in the failing sunlight.

"Now, Tigress. I didn't say you would do that. I said someone like you," Po uneasily replied.

"If anyone were to do that to you, they don't deserve you!" Tigress roared again. She pointed a finger to his exposed chest. The sharp claw nearly piercing Po's skin. "I don't ever want to see or hear you thinking of yourself like that again."

"Hehe, Tigress, insecurities just don't go bye-bye overnight," Po sighed. He suddenly saw Tigress clenching her fist, glaring her amber eyes deep into Po's soul. "But there's a first for everything!" Po nervously chuckled, quickly getting up from the ground. "Sorry to make you mad."

"It's fine," Tigress grumbled, getting up with Po's help. "I'm just shocked that you would think I would do something like that."

"I'm not saying _you_ would. I know you better than that. I certainly hope I do," Po muttered. The tiger's expression changed to a more solemn one. Tigress remembered her conversation with Zheng-Hau. "Well, I better get going. It's getting late, and I want to get some sleep." Po turned to leave, but Tigres caught his hand.

"Wait... I want to talk with you more," Tigress said slowly. Po looked at her with a confused face. "Heavenly Peach Tree?" She smiled.

"Sure?" Po said, tilting his head in confusion as Tigress lead the way.

**Continued...**


	16. A Real Talk

A Real Talk

* * *

Yun whirled the staff about, clashing with Zheng-Hau's staff. "Great! Keep it up!" Zheng-Hau coached. Yun quickly spun the staff around, swinging for his legs, Zheng-Hau jumped up and blocked the other side of Yun's staff from hitting him. As he came back down to the ground, Yun smirked a cheeky smile. "What are you thinking?" Zheng said, anxious about his opponent's grin. Suddenly, Yun flipped gracefully over the jackrabbit and swung her staff at his back, knocking him flat on his face. "Ah!" He groaned, rubbing his sore head. Yun giggled as she helped Zheng-Hau. "Thanks. You're greatly improving, at the cost of the of my pride," Zheng-Hau grumbled.

"Sorry," Yun smiled.

"No, no, I shouldn't have let my guard down, especially around a unique strategist like you. Wow, time flies," Zheng mentioned, looking around and seeing it was getting dark.

"I should get back home," Yun exhaustively exhaled.

"Why don't I escort you?" Zheng-Hau offered. Yun rose her eyebrow.

"Are you sure? Don't you want to rest or see Lin tonight?" Yun asked. Zheng shook his head with a smile.

"No, I'm good," The jackrabbit replied with an easy tone, throwing his hands behind his head as they walked out of the Training Hall. "How's bookkeeping?"

"It's pretty great," Yun smiled shyly. "Master Shifu even thought of giving me a promotion to head servant of the Jade Palace."

"Wow, what does Zeng think about that?" Zheng-Hau asked.

"He was pleased, but he has been uneasy lately," Yun commented. "Maybe you could talk with him."

"I will, thanks," Zheng-Hau said. He sighed as he looked at the beautiful full moon and stars. The air was warm, breezing between the two as the clear deep black sky illuminated under the celestial figures. "It's beautiful tonight."

"Yes, it is," Yun smiled.

"Oh, I told Lin about my feelings for her," Zheng remembered, shocking Yun.

"You did?!" She exclaimed, momentarily losing her composure. "And... what did she say?"

"She said she couldn't return my feelings, of course," Zheng-Hau said nonchalantly.

"And... how do you feel?" Zheng-Hau stopped midway of the steps.

"To be honest. I feel... free... I feel free from the fear of not knowing. Besides, I kind of knew she wasn't."

"How?" Yun asked.

"Come on, Yun. I'm not as clueless as you think," Zheng-Hau smirked. Yun shook her head with a smile.

"Sure," She said sarcastically, "But I'm glad that you feel relieved. I know that confessing your feelings to someone is extremely hard."

"It is," Zheng-Hau sighed, but looked up at the night sky again, "but I think I'll manage. Any pain in our lives is temporary only if we believe it's temporary."

"Hehe, I guess you're right," Yun said as they continued to walk down the steps. "What will you do now though? Lin will be gone and you have no one but Po to really connect with as a family. I don't want to sound pessimistic but-" Zheng-Hau sighed, stopping on the last few steps and sitting down. "Zheng-Hau?"

"I don't know," Zheng groaned with a heavy tone in his voice. "I don't know." Yun knelt down and hugged him tightly as Zheng-Hau just looked down at the ground. Zheng-Hau wiped his eyes to prevent any tears. "I'm sorry for-"

"Don't apologize. Zheng-Hau, I don't know what your life is going to be like now, but I know things will turn out if you let them. You can get through this. You've gotten this far," Yun said. Zheng-Hau meekly smiled as he collected himself together. "I'm sorry that life is weird like this."

"Well, it's better than the alternative," Zheng-Hau smiled as he got up with Yun's help. They continued going down the stairs into the sleeping village. Zheng-Hau looked at the fox for a while. Since they were equal height, Yun could plainly see Zheng-Hau was looking at her. Yun's eyes glanced at him.

"What?"

"Yun," Zheng-Hau started with a curious child-like look in his eyes, "Would you ever date someone outside your species?"

"What?!" Yun exclaimed, missing a step and nearly fell down. Zheng-Hau quickly caught her before she hit the ground. "Th...thanks." Zheng laughed.

"That wasn't what I was expecting," Zheng-Hau snickered. The fox pouted as the jackrabbit settled down. "But what's your answer?"

"Um... I uh... well, I would," Yun struggled to say. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm just curious. When I was deeply in my infatuation for Lin, I started noticing that a lot of girls outside of my species wanted to talk with me more. I don't know. It felt... more welcoming with people outside my species."

"So... you would date someone... outside your species?" Yun asked. Zheng-Hau shrugged, having a neutral face. Yun's eyes lowered as she smiled. "Well, I'm sure that whoever you choose will be so glad to have you. You're an amazing person, Zheng. I hope you know that."

"Thanks, Yun. That means a lot," Zheng-Hau smiled widely as they got to her house. Yun smiled. Her eyes nervously darted to the side as she suddenly kissed him on the cheek.

"Thank you, Zheng-Hau, for the walk home," Yun slowly said. Zheng-Hau smiled as he usually does. Yun sighed a bit before returning a warm smile. With a wave and a nod, she closed the door behind her, groaning under her breath as she walked to her bed and slept her frustration away. Zheng-Hau looked at the house with his neutral face for a while before a wide smile crept onto his face as he walked back to the Jade Palace with his hands behind his head.

Meanwhile, Tigress and Po were talking with each other at Peach Tree. "You really thought that I would do something like that, Po?" Tigress asked with a more somber tone.

"I don't think of you like that, Tigress," Po argued, regretting what happened earlier. "I'm just saying that some people have done that, and I felt as I would have that done to me." They sat down side by side at the tree. "I'm sorry I said that."

"It's okay. You told the truth and that's what matters," Tigress spoke with a level tone. She suddenly felt a gentle hand on her bandaged arm.

"How does it feel?"

"It's getting better. I spoke with Zheng-Hau about it when-"

"You spoke with Zheng?" Po interrupted.

"Yes, he and I went to talk to Lin about his feelings towards her and-"

"Wait, wait, what?!" Po exclaimed. Tigress summarized everything that happened between the two rabbits. "Whoa, I didn't think he would take my advice so soon," Po smiled proudly. Tigress showed a small smile as she looked down at the village.

"We also talked a bit about... some stuff that I've been struggling with," Tigress confessed, sighing heavily. Po's body shifted, turning directly to Tigress.

"What struggles?" Po asked, gently resting his hand on her bandaged hand. Tigress sighed again.

"Po... for a while, I've seen you get closer and closer to Zheng-Hau. You seem closer to him than you are with us," Tigress confessed. Po twiddled his fingers nervously.

"Um... I..."

"It's okay. Zheng-Hau already spoke to me about it. There are just some things that we have an easier time talk about with some people rather than other people," Tigress quietly said. "I just thought that since we were friends for so long that we would have known each other for a while." They shared a moment of silence. Po didn't know what to say. He stopped and started several times, uttering incoherent mumblings Then...he just gave up, but not in the way one usually does.

"Okay, do you like anyone in the village?"

"What?!" Tigress spluttered.

"Do you like anyone in the village?"

"That's private, Po."

"And that's why it feels like we're not close," Po fussed, gesturing his hands at her.

"What was that supposed to mean?" Tigress asked with her eyes fixed on him with a slight parting of her mouth, showing her glistening teeth.

"Tigress, I tell you almost everything that's going on in my head," Po snapped. "You know my birth story, my fears, my dreams. You even understand how important my Kung Fu action figures of you guys are to me. I have **_yet_** to figure out what your favorite color is!"

"You know my orphanage story," Tigress returned with the same offensive energy. Po's gritted teeth while his eyebrows furrowed. He threw his hands wide in a frustrated swipe.

"Yeah, and I learned that from Shifu!" Po pointed back to the Jade Palace. "Your fears: You say you don't have any; your dreams: personal but ambitious; the only reason I know your favorite food is because I learned that from Viper! Tigress, I may know a lot about you from the times we have and the adventures we've taken together, but there are just some things you have never told me or shown me!" Po panted as he finished his rant. He rested his head back against the tree. "That's why it seems like I am closer to Zheng-Hau than to you. He and I tell each other our weaknesses and fears as well as our strengths. And we try and help each other with that." Po felt the air start to get colder and not in a physical way. "I'm sorry for ranting. It's just... it's been frustrating to try to figure you out and... I just want to be as close to you as possible but... sometimes it feels like you don't want me to." Po looked at the ground for a while before he sighed. The silence of the air was becoming unbearable. "I... I should get-"

"I'm sorry," Tigress quietly whispered. Po nearly didn't hear it. He scooted closer. "I'm... I'm sorry that I haven't opened up to you." Po could see her clenching her fists. He gently rested his hand on hers. He could feel it trembling. "I... I know that you want to know more about me, but... I just... I don't... I'm sorry."

"I'm not expecting you to open up all at once like Zheng, but I... I just want to know what's bothering you so I can help... in any way, shape, or form," Po said with a small smile.

"I know," Tigress said, shutting her eyes. "Po... I've been through a lot, both from Shifu and from the people in the village and even around China. Over time, I just felt like I couldn't open up to anyone, even to the Furious Five. Then when I became the unofficial leader of the furious five, that just put more pressure to hide my fears." She looked up at the night sky. Her eyes squinted and her body jerked, desperately trying to stay composed. "I often wonder if I can tell Master Shifu what I'm going through. But then I shy away from it. I've gotten so used to just punching and training through my frustrations and insecurities. I just thought I could through this without thinking about it at all."

Then it happened. Her eyes started watering. "But I'm scared, Po," She shuddered. Her voice like horse finally giving up after walking ten thousand miles. Like a wall finally crashing to the ground. She sucked in air and raised her voice louder "As much as you've seen me as this strong person... I'm just scared." She pulled her legs into her chest. "I sometimes feel like the kid I was in the orphanage. They didn't know this, but I was just as afraid of them as they were of me. And I'm still scared," She said. Two streams of tear flowed down her cheeks. The tense in her face was like an old worn rope about to break. She didn't want to break. Po quickly embraced her into a hug. "Po?" He said nothing. He simply petted her head gently as he hugged her. The emotions in Tigress's heart stabbed and twisted in her valves. It was too much.

She cried.

"It's okay," Po soothed quietly as she cried for what seemed to be the first time in a long while. She sobbed loudly, surprising Po. Yet he could understand as she sobbed like she owed her tears years of release.

"I... I do feel, Po... even if I don't show it... I... I feel your pain... I'm sorry that I don't... don't tell you... but I'm so afraid... that I'll be... hurt... again... I'm sorry... I'm just... scared," She sobbed in broken breaths.

"It's okay. I'm right here," Po said, lifting her head up and smiling warmly.

"How... how do you do... it?" Tigress asked through her tears. Po gently whipped her face from the tears. "How do you... stay so... unafraid... how do you... grow so fast...?"

"I don't. Don't worry about me being fast. Just worry about getting through it. You will feel that pain, Tigress, but the pain of it is less than the pain of avoiding it. Trust me, I know. If you feel betrayed or hurt, it will pass. Don't let the actions of others stop you from being free from your fears." Po smiled. "You're still strong in my eyes." Tigress weakly smiled, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Thank you, Po," Tigress sighed, tiredly going to sleep.

**Continued...**


	17. Gloomy News

Gloomy News

* * *

The next morning, Tigress's eyes dozily opened up. She saw Po sleeping with a smile. Tigress's eyes popped open, but she remembered last night; she even felt the strain in her eyes and face from crying. But she felt peace. The panda's chest gently rose and fell underneath her head. The tiger's vision journeyed up passed Po and saw a figure of a gray spotted feline. Tigress grumbled under her breath, quietly standing up and glaring dead at Tai-Lung. The snow leopard's face was expressionless and his arms were crossed while Tigress walked towards him. "Do not-"

"I wasn't going to tease you," Tai interrupted. Tigress stood still. She cautiously examined him. Tai-Lung glanced at the panda then looked back to her. "It caught me off guard. You two had a very close moment," He stated rather than asked.

"It wasn't..." Tigress paused. Last night changed her idea of what it meant to be strong. Tigress finally sighed and said, "It was." The humility in her tone impressed the snow leopard.

Tai-Lung's eyebrows rose up. "Well, I'll leave you two alone then," Tai-Lung responded, turning around. Tigress shook her head awake as she followed after him.

"Why?" Tigress asked. A whole list of things were asked in that 'why.' Tai-Lung stopped.

"You were able to come off your high horse of self-perceived strength and accept who you were in reality with your flaws," Tai-Lung explained, still facing away from Tigress. "That's stronger than any warrior that I've seen. Your face when you said, 'I was.'... The only time I've seen that face was when I was fighting Po and Master Shifu. When you completely accept yourself, there's a certain glow of peace you have," Tai-Lung replied, looking at his hand. He sighed. "Your arm should be healed by now," Tai-Lung mentioned, continuing down the stairs. Tigress gazed on as Tai left. She walked back to Po, bent down, and gently shook him awake.

"Wha... what happened?" Po muttered. "Did I oversleep again?"

"No," Tigress smiled, taking the sling off of her arm. "We slept the night up here." She moved her arm around carefully. "Hiya!" Then Tigress punched the ground, making a crater in its wake.

"AHH!" Po yelped as he jumped back. "Tigress! Are you crazy? Your arm is still wounded!"

"Don't worry, Po," Tigress smiled proudly, clenching her hand, "My arm is back to normal. Mantis did say it would heal pretty quickly." Po blew a sigh of relief. "And Po?" Tigress said with a tiny red flush in her face. "Thank you... for... last night." Tigress looked away. Po looked at Tigress with a slightly opened mouth of surprise. Then he smiled and gently rested his hand on her shoulder.

"You're welcome," Po said. Suddenly, they saw Zheng-Hau down below darting up the Jade Palace steps. "I wonder what's happening with him."

"Come on, we better get going," Tigress said. Po nodded as they went down from the Heavenly Peach Tree.

* * *

"This is very concerning," Shifu fretted, stroking his chin. Tigress and Po ran into the Hall of Heroes where Zheng and Shifu were.

"What's wrong?" Tigress asked.

"Zheng-Hau said Zeng's place has been completely emptied, and Zeng is nowhere to be found," Shifu summarized.

"What?! What happened?" Po asked.

"We don't know," Zheng-Hau said, still catching his breath, "Yun went to his house to try and find some papers for the Jade Palace. Then she saw Zeng and his wife were gone."

"Come on, we need to find out what happened. Is Yun still there?" Po asked. Zheng nodded. Tigress, Po, and Zheng raced down the mountain and darted down the dirty rock road. Zeng's house was in the village nearest to the Jade Palace. They saw the pacing fox waiting for them. "Tigress, can you go around and ask people what happened? Zheng-Hau, go to the top of the roof. See if there isn't any kind of weirdness going around this place. Yun, come inside the house with me. I want to know what happened." Po instructed. Everyone quickly went to their places while Yun and Po went inside.

Po and Yun looked around. The place was in a heaping mess. Silk panels smashed and ripped, the dining room table broken in three, two paintings dangling on the wall, and cushions were in random places of the room. Yun's vixen nose wrinkled. "Something is off," she muttered. "It almost looks like Zeng left himself."

"What makes you say that?" Po asked.

The fox pointed to the ground. "If bandits had destroyed this place, there should be footprints all over here. But it looks like there are just two people."

"Zeng and his wife's," Po concluded the fox's thought. Po scratched his head when he noticed something on the ceiling. It was a small parchment of paper nailed to the ceiling. "Yun, get on my shoulders and see if you can get that." Yun nodded and scaled the panda's shoulders, reaching for the paper and tearing it off the ceiling. "What does it say?" Po asked as Yun unraveled it.

_We, the Lemon Bandits, have killed your precious servant. Don't go looking for him. His wife has already tried and failed. Don't come looking for either. _

"This is terrible," Yun sniffled in remorse, nearly dropping the paper. Po quickly caught the paper and looked at it. "Why would anyone do this?"

"To send a message to us," Po said.

"What message?!" Yun cried out. Po sighed and sagged his shoulders. He stared at the floor in silence as Yun tried to cover her crying. Po absentmindedly rubbed the paper through his fingers. As the two walked out, Zheng-Hau jumped off the roof and Tigress came back. "Did you guys find anything?" Yun asked, hoping for good news.

"I can't see anything out of the ordinary," Zheng-Hau sighed.

"But the villagers here mentioned that there was a loud noise over here early morning that sounded like people leaving in a hurry," Tigress added. She spotted the note. "What's that?" Po and Yun sadly retold what the note said. Tigress's eyes widened.

"They what?!" Zheng-Hau exclaimed. "We'll find these guys and do what they did to Zeng!" The jackrabbit clenched his fist. The three of them suddenly noticed that Tigress's back was turned to them. She gazed at the ground.

"Tigress, I'm sorry," Po said.

"It's not just that, Po," Tigress whispered mournfully, "When I was isolated from the village, Zeng would tell me stories about what was happening down here. All of the festivals and food. Most people don't realize how much of a friend I consider Zeng. Now... he's gone."

"There's still hope for justice," Yun mentioned in determination. Po kept rubbing his fingers on the paper. "These bandits must have left a trail."

"If they did, we can't find it from here," Zheng-Hau replied. "I've never seen bandits like these."

"What do you mean?" Yun asked.

"Zhao would always have me chase after bandits as a practice run. I've seen political bandits and muggers of all kinds. They've never just killed the servant of a group without giving a purpose. Why?" Zheng-Hau questioned. No one knew the answer.

Po's eyes scanned the area. "Why don't we talk about this in a more private area," Po suggested, noticing some of the worried faces of the villagers. Zheng and Yun nodded as they went to the Jade Palace. Tigress was still looking at the ground. "Tigress, I promise we'll figure out something." Tigress's body trembled for a moment before latching onto Po, hugging him tightly. "I promise that we'll get his body back," Po hugged back.

"He deserves a proper burial for all of his service to the Jade Palace," Tigress softly said. Po nodded as she released him. The two of them went sadly up the Jade Palace steps. Po still rubbed the paper between his fingers.

* * *

After telling the masters what happened, everyone at the barracks' kitchen sat in complete silence. Monkey, Crane, and Mantis were sitting on chairs with long faces. Viper was on the countertop of the kitchen, looking at the sun setting outside. Master Shifu was at the head of the table, peering sadly into its frame. Tai-Lung leaned his back against the wall, angrily fidgetting to himself. Po sat at the other end of the table, rubbing the paper between his fingers while Tigress was on his right and Zheng was on his left with Yun on Zheng's left. Tai-Lung suddenly grunted. "We have to go after them."

"Who's 'them' and what lead do we have?" Tigress rebuked.

Tai-Lung threw his hands up in frustration. "I don't know! All I know is that whoever did this has to pay!" Tai-Lung roared.

"We'll never get them if we lose our temper," Shifu cooly said.

"Inaction is still a negative action, Master Shifu," Tai-Lung countered.

"But a directionless attack is worse than a directional failed attempt," Shifu remarked. Tai-Lung grumbled, resting his back against the wall again. "I know you all are upset, but Tai-Lung is partly right. We have to make sure that we find some kind of lead on Zeng's killers." The whole room agreed, but Po was still transfixed on the paper. "Po, what are you doing with that paper?"

"Nothing, it's just... this paper seems... weird."

"It's probably your imagination, Po," Tai-Lung gently corrected. He knew the panda wanted to hope in the littlest things. Tai-Lung always considered it denial, but he soon grew to understand it.

"No, it feels... heavier," Po struggled to say.

"Okay, so the paper needs to lose weight," Monkey mildly joked. Po shooked his head and ignored the simian.

Shifu sighed, "Whatever the case, this could not have happened at a worse time."

"What's wrong, Master Shifu?" Viper asked.

"Before this happened, Zeng received word that the Mongolians are planning to attack the northern side of China. Once they heard of Zheng-Hau's movement being dissolved, they decided to mobilize."

"That sneaky tiger," Zheng-Hau growled, banging his fist on the table, "Zhao knew that whether I won or failed, the northern side of China would still be weakened. He played me."

"We can't do anything about that now," Tai-Lung sighed with much calmer head, "We'll have to beat them back."

"Zhao is no ordinary leader," Zheng-Hau warned, "He's extremely crafty and dangerous. The only person who's been able to beat him is the legendary Dead Shot Duck before he disappeared: the best short-range, long-range, hand-to-hand fighter there ever was."

"How do you know about that?" Tigress asked.

"Zhao growled endlessly about him. It's part of the reason why he wanted to invade China, to draw out Dead Shot Duck," Zheng-Hau explained but sighed, "But that doesn't matter now."

Po waited until there was complete silence again before saying anything. "Zeng once told me that if a paper is heavier than normal, that means that there's something more on it than meets the eye."

"So... what?" Yun asked.

Suddenly, Po's eyes widened. "Wait, you said that Zhao fought Dead Shot Duck?!" He exclaimed.

"Yes, Po. Try and keep up," Tai-Lung muttered. Po looked back at the paper as his eyes spread wide.

**Continued...**


	18. General Zhao

General Zhao

* * *

"That's why it's so weird!" Po exclaimed.

"Po, what are you talking about?" Crane questioned.

Po rummaged through the cupboards. He finally grabbed a lemon. Po smiled widely as he sat back down. "Okay, remember how the Zeng's place looked?"

"Yeah, everything was a mess," Yun mentioned.

"But was anything missing?" Po questioned. Yun shook her head. "You see, that's what makes this whole thing so weird. Normal bandits would have just taken the stuff. Political villains kill people to make a statement so they wouldn't take anything."

"Okay, but that's never stopped them before," Mantis mentioned.

"You're right, but there were only two people in the entire house," Po argued.

"Okay, then it must have been only two of them. It would make less noise. However, strategically speaking, that would require a thinking pattern that most bandits don't have," Yun thoughtfully mentioned.

"Okay, there's the possibility. But here's the catch: The footprints looked a lot like duck prints. And if they killed Zeng and his wife in the house and if the villagers heard noises from the house, there would have been bloodstains," Po revealed.

Tigress's eyes suddenly widened. "The note. That's why it's so unusual. Anyone else would have just seen the mess and called us. And anyone getting too curious would be deterred by the note," Tigress added. Po nodded.

"And that's why it was placed on the ceiling," Po explained. "Political villains would have left more tracks, and thieving bandits don't leave valuables behind. Plus, look at the note. It's in Zeng's wife's handwriting."

"How do you know?" Tigress asked.

"Think about it. No one was in the house except Zeng and his wife. We already know Zeng's handwriting. The only person that we don't know well is his wife." Po explained.

"You're making it seem like-"

"Zeng stole from himself!" Po eagerly interrupted Tai-Lung. Everyone groaned. "Wait, that's not what I meant."

"But why?" Tigress asked. Po smirked, holding the lemon in his hand.

"The key was the _lemon bandits. _I sniffed the paper. It had a weird smell to it," Po said, cutting the lemon open and lightly drizzling the juices onto the paper. Suddenly, words started to form on the paper.

"It's a secret message," Tigress said. Po read it.

_Po, Zhao has made his appearance again. He'll be coming for all of China and me, so I can't stay here. My wife is relocated to a different spot where she'll be safe. I'll go to northern China to make sure Zhao's forces don't overwhelm the soldiers and villagers there. Please make sure to bring all of the masters. If you run into Zhao before I do, kill his mouth first._

_~Zeng._

"Oh no," Po whispered.

"Wait, why would Zhao try to get to Zeng first?" Tigress questioned as she looked from the paper to Po. Po's eyes darted all around the room. He looked at the floor to avoid everyone's gaze. "Po?"

Yun noticed Po's change from excited to nervous. "What's going on?" she asked Po. Po sighed.

* * *

The tents stood up like brown patches of dirt against the green ground. A bulky Siberian tiger walked out of the biggest tent. The tiger's broad shoulders stretched for a yard it seemed. His face and body held no scratches or bruises. The tiger's jawline was sharply cut and his thick leather battle armor covered his chest and legs. A white cloak with black daggers embroidered down the back hung around his body. He menacingly growled in a low tone as he gazed into the marked territory of China. General Zhao stood impressively over the cliff looking down into the small Mung Village. He would make his attack there, then head straight for the heart of China: The Valley of Peace. The very symbol of China's tranquility and security. If that fell, then the whole country would as well. "General Zhao! General Zhao!" Shouted an incoming Rhino, "Scouts have been captured by some of the villagers, sir. The villagers seemed to be more capable than we thought." Zhao didn't turn. He simply looked onward and folded his hands behind him.

"Lieutenant, tell me. How long have we tried to invade China?" Zhao asked collectedly.

"Uh... Ten years, sir," The rhino replied.

"And how many failures have we endured so far."

"None, sir," The rhino reported.

Zhao smiled at the lieutenant. The tiger's sharp-set gaze ate into the rhino's shivering frame. The thin line that formed his mouth tipped up at the corners of his mouth with distressing excitement. "Exactly. Ten years that I have strategically planned for this very moment without any failures. And what do you think we should do now?" Zhao said.

The rhino looked around worriedly to figure out a 'safe' answer. "Um... proceed carefully?"

"And make sure that we cut our losses. There are no failures in my grand plan," Zhao sneered with a sly grin. "Ready the men to attack the village. Make sure that _no one_ is alive." The lieutenant's eyes widened as his mouth dropped. "This will serve as a lesson to all that fail to do their part in my plans," Zhao glared at the rhino. "Is that clear?" he asked in chilling calmness.

"Yes, General Zhao," The rhino promptly said, running towards the camp. Zhao smirked as he turned his eyes back to the village.

Fire hailed down on the little village, burning everything in its path. Zhao's men launched flaming balls from their catapults. The blazing boulders knocked down houses and buildings. The roads littered with broken bricks and rubble. The sky reflected the fiery glow as smoke billowed into the air. The smoke darkened the sun for an hour.

Once the smoke cleared, Zhao and his men marched into the rubble. Absolute silence walked around as the wind whistled the ash and soot away. "The village has been destroyed, General Zhao," saluted the Lieutenant, but the tiger scanned the landscape. Zhao growled loudly and punched the rhino in his left eye. "ARGH!" The Lieutenant flew back where the men caught him in their arms. "General?" He gasped, holding his eye in agony.

"There's no one here, you idiots," Zhao said in a lower calmer tone. "They evacuated before we attacked." Zhao's eyes looked toward the horizon, squinting at the setting sun. Suddenly, Zhao duck left and dodged an arrow aimed for his head. He looked at the arrow's gray tail. Zhao growled as his eyes peered into the distant woods. He spotted a bow in a feathery hand. The archer smirked under his black mask and darted into the woods. "Dead Shot Duck," Zhao quietly growled, grabbing the arrow out of the ground. "Men, we're going to press on."

"General Zhao," spoke one of the brawny gorillas, "Can't we rest? The men are tired and-" Zhao's bitter cackle echoed.

"I would worry less about the men, private, and more about the man that could potentially give your family _permanent_ rest," Zhao stated, snapping the arrow in his hand. The gorilla and the men shuddered. "Are we clear?"

"YES, SIR!" Shouted the men as Zhao motioned them to march forward.

Through the dense woods and foliage, the archer duck dropped from the trees and landed where the villagers were gathered, all 180 of them. "They know that we escaped," explained the masked duck.

"We would have been destroyed if it weren't for you," said one of the villagers. Dead Shot nodded but kept his steady gaze.

"You still could. Zhao will concentrate all of his forces on the center of China. Head towards the edge of Korea. I'll send for you when things have calmed down." The crowd nodded as they walked through the wooded hillside. Dead Shot made sure the migration safely took place before spreading his wings and taking to the air. "Those knuckleheads better figure out my message," He muttered under his breath. He soared through the skies and landed on a single tree to scan the landscape. The two mountains in the southern distance would guarantee the duck time to thin out Zhao's forces. "Not a moment to lose," He hastily said as he soared onward.

**Continued...**


	19. Darting through the Night

Darting through the Night

* * *

"DEAD SHOT!" Shouted Zheng-Hau at the panda, "THE Dead Shot? Master of long-range and short-range weaponry and hand-to-hand fighter in all of China?! Zeng's THAT Dead Shot!" The Jackrabbit glared at the panda. "My gosh!" He walked in a small circle before coming back to Po's left side. "Do you realize the kind of legend that was right under my nose! I could have learned from him and never had to deal with Zhao!"

"I know, but Zeng told me to keep it a secret. It would put his family in danger," Po replied.

"I don't understand," Tigress said, her eyes sadly set on the table in front of her, "All those years were just... lies?"

"They weren't," Po argued, "Zeng knew it would cause problems if you knew."

"Then how did you know?" Tai-Lung asked with arms crossed and raised an eyebrow.

The panda nervously scratched the side of his cheek, "I... I accidentally found out."

"Well, I'm not surprised," Tai chuckled a bit. He looked at his foster sister's sulking posture. Her eyes still downcast and her ears drooping. The very air around her felt heavy and depressing. While Zheng continued on his rage, Tai knelt down to Tigress's side. "What's wrong?"

"How much of my friends' life do I actually know?" Tigress asked, clenching her fists. Tai sighed, stood back up, and walked over to Zheng-Hau, placing his arm in front of the jackrabbit.

"This is not helping us get Zhao out of China," Tai-Lung reminded everyone in the room. "We need to start moving and fighting Zhao."

Po nodded. Zheng-Hau rolled his eyes, turning away. Po stood up, stretching forth his hand and resting it on the jackrabbit's shoulder, gently smiling at him. Zheng-Hau sighed and uncrossed his arms. "Zeng needs our help. That's what matters," He replied, darting out the room with Yun. The others left Tigress and Po alone. Tigress still gazed into the table.

"Tigress?" Po asked.

"I think I should-" Po placed a hand on her shoulder as he sat down with her.

"Tigress, don't get hung up about this. There are a lot of things I don't know about you. But think of it like this: if Zeng told us, everyone would be in danger," Po said. He gently placed his hand on hers. "I don't know everything about Zeng, myself, you, or about what will happen. But I do know we'll be fine." Po paused a moment and smiled. "I guess that's why tomorrow is always a good thing. We always get to learn something new about ourselves and each other."

Tigress returned a small smile before getting up. She sucked in a breath and sighed heavily, "Let's go help Zeng." Po nodded as the two rushed out the door.

* * *

The cool of the night pressed them onward. Po and the others darted through the nighttime forest, trying to beat the Mongolians to the northern mountains. "Come on! We have to get there quick!" Po shouted at them. He was running as fast as he could, but he still had "Panda Asthma." "Wait up!" Tigress jumped gracefully over a large tree root while Tai-Lung ducked underneath it. The moon shone their way through its dim light. They finally stopped running to rest for the night. After setting up their camps and building a campfire, Crane, Monkey, Mantis, Viper, and Yun went to bed while Tai, Tigress, Po, and Zheng-Hau stayed around the fire. "Pass the water please," Po asked Tigress. Tai's watchful eye gazed at Tigress then the panda.

"So," The snow leopard began, "how do Zeng and Zhao know each other?"

"I don't know, but whenever Shifu mentioned Zhao, Zeng would listen in," Po said, looking intently into the fire.

"How do you know?" Tigress asked.

"You can tell by how he looks. His nervous Zeng suddenly changes to a serious Zeng," Po sighed, relaxing back onto the ground. "He is going to have to explain how he knew the Mongolians were coming before anyone of us knew."

"So you just knew the fact that he was Dead Shot and nothing else?" Zheng-Hau asked. "I'm more surprised you didn't tell anyone."

Po shrugged. "When it comes to a life-and-death situation, I tend to act differently." Tai-Lung and Tigress looked at each other for a moment before looking at Zheng-Hau.

"Zheng," Tigress said, "You've been with Zhao the longest among us. Do you know any of the struggles between Zeng and Zhao?"

The jackrabbit looked into the fire. His eyes gazed thoughtfully at the flickering flames. "Yes and no," He answered, "He was relentless about finding him, but most times conquering China was his goal."

Po yawned, straightening his back as he twisted it left and right. Then his eyes shot open. "Wait, that reminds me. How did you manage to learn from THE general of the Mongolian Army since you're Chinese?" Po asked

Zheng-Hau rubbed his arm. He cast his low lidded eyes towards the flames as he chuckled awkwardly, "That was because of Zhao's wife. Originally, I stumbled into Mongolian territory. They took me captive. Zhao had full intentions to kill me, even though I explained to them I was harmless. That's when Zhao's wife intervened and suggested that I have a trial period to prove I wasn't a spy. After a long, _long _time of debating between them, Zhao agreed." Zheng rubbed the back of his long ears to fold down along his spine. "They were extreme opposites. If Zhao was mean, Lu-Su was kind. If Zhao was strict, Lu-Su was lenient. She stood up for me when I couldn't for myself. I often wonder how they were married."

"What happened to her?" Tigress asked.

"I don't know. She was still there when I left. Anyways, when Zhao saw that I knew a lot about weaponry, he changed. He started teaching me how to use weapons and fighting styles. He didn't teach me nerve attacks. Some elders near the border taught me that," Zheng-Hau replied. "But Zhao became more...caring?"

"You don't seem convinced," Tai-Lung noted.

"It's the kind of eerie caring that scares a child," Zheng-Hau explained. The blank faces told the jackrabbit he had to explain more. "Whenever I did something wrong, he would motivate me through the thought that I would be weak if I didn't make it. Everything had to be perfect and stupid me," He paused, sighing heavily, "thought that it was encouraging. The only thing that made me question it all back then was the constant sadness on Lu-Su's face."

"What changed?" Tigress asked.

"About seven years after, I got a backbone. I finally pushed back against Zhao's lies and told him I would become stronger than him by making an army of my own," Zheng-Hau replied, "That's when Lu-Su became frantic. She told me that no matter what that I was worth it. Of course, at the time I didn't realize what she meant, but now I realize she was trying to help me see through Zhao's lies." Zheng-Hau yawned loudly. "But that's as much as I remember about the tiger. He's very cunning and brutal. I wouldn't be surprised if we see smoldering villages on our way there." Zheng-Hau clenched his right hand and gritted his teeth. Suddenly, he looked at the two felines. "There has been something I've been meaning to ask you two."

"What's that?" Tai-Lung asked.

"How in Great China did you overcome your differences with each other?" Zheng-Hau asked.

Po snickered, "These two were always causing some kind of trouble in the Jade Palace, more than me. 'You are an insufferable old crook' Tigress would say," Po said in a higher-pitched authoritative mocking voice. "'And you're a naive mini-Shifu that can't see the big picture' Tai-Lung would say," Po recited in a hoarse yet sinister eloquent voice. Tai-Lung and Tigress glared silently at Po, yet Zheng-Hau laughed. "But what finally got them to stop trying to kill each other was they figured out it was pointless."

"Unfortunately, the panda is right," Tai-Lung growled out, crossing his arms and burning his eyes at the smirking panda. "Tigress and I were on a mission with Po when he got ill. We both cared for him. Through that, we started realizing how much Po meant to both of us. For Tigress it's understandable, but for me, Po represented a second chance. While Po was resting, we talked and came to the realization that our tit-for-tat was futile. Shifu did what he could to raise us, Po was Dragon Warrior: the title we both wanted, and the world was moving on." Tai-Lung closed his eyes and shrugged his shoulders, giving a long sigh. "It was useless holding a grudge for something that couldn't be solved by either of us dying or submitting."

"So you two just... gave up?" Zheng-Hau finished. Tai shrugged again before slumping his back against the hard trunk of a bamboo stalk. Zheng-Hau looked at Tigress who nodded in a matter-of-fact manner. It was difficult to understand why the great Master Tigress, who was willing to do whatever it took to accomplish something, would "give up". Zheng-Hau thought about it for a while. Sometimes, he thought, the greatest achievement in life is to know when you're not supposed to achieve something.

Po gave a great yawn before standing up, "Well, I think we should get some beauty sleep. Once we get to that border, the real fight began." he said excitedly.

**continued...**


	20. Zhao the Liar

Zhao the Liar

* * *

He heard a noise. The panda suddenly woke up to the darkness of his tent. Po got to his feet and walked out of the tent flap. He shoved his foot through one hole of his pants and struggled with the other. "Ugh, stupid pants," Po grumbled.

"I didn't know you sleep without them?" said a voice in front of him. Po looked up and saw a jet black-clothed duck. He wore a Chinese black straw hat with a large quiver of arrows strapped to his back. His black band mask covered only his eyes while his buttoned vest had white lining down the middle. The duck sat on a large boulder with his left leg propped up and his left-wing resting on his kneecap. He wore a 'glad' smirk like he was pleased to see Po but had a trick up his sleeve.

Po's eyes widened as he rushed over to the duck. "Zeng!" He whispered loudly. Zeng quickly held his wing up. They couldn't wake up the others. "What are you doing here?"

"To make sure you got my message. Zhao's almost a day away from you guys. His army is stuck in the mountain," the archer explained, hopping off the boulder.

"They know you're Dead Shot Duck," Po said.

The duck paused then walked over towards the black fire pit from earlier that night. "I know," Zeng replied sadly, "And I can only imagine how Tigress felt." Zeng looked back. Po narrowed his eyes and tilted his head at the duck. "I was Tigress's eyes and ears for the village. I was a beloved uncle to her."

"She felt a little betrayed, but she understands why you did what you did," Po said. "I don't think she's _not_ going to kill you, but I guess she'll be fine... maybe... soon... perhaps." Zeng simply smiled, gazing at the mountain in the dark night. "Well, at least you're not looking at the sky," Po muttered in annoyance.

Zeng rolled his eyes with a shake of his head. "There's not much time," He rushed, "I'm going to make sure that the Emperor sends reinforcements here. An outpost is not far from here. You guys have to stop Zhao at the Old Mung Lu Temple. The mountain pass is narrow enough for you to cut them off and finally beat them."

Po nodded. He grabbed the duck's wing. "There's one thing that I have to know. How do you and Zhao know each other?" Zeng looked at the panda's eyes with a raised eyebrow before Po let go of his wing. "You never explained how you knew him. I understand being a legend, but what would a Chinese legend know of a Mongolian? Plus, you said to kill his mouth. I don't understand what you meant by that."

Dead Shot crossed his arms and threw out a quick grunt. His glare at the tree gave Po the impression it was a long history between the two. Zeng sighed, "Zhao has always been an excellent liar since we got inducted into the Mongolian army."

"You were in the Mongolian army?! Wait! You're Mongolian!"

"SHHH!" Zeng hushed, "Yes, I'm Mongolian, but that changed when Zhao and I were inducted. I got into the army at a young age as did Zhao. He manipulated everyone around him to his will, even the supervisors above us." Zeng shook his head as he gazed at the ground. Was he shaking off a bad memory? Po couldn't tell. "The point is he's very manipulative. Kill his mouth first and don't let him get into your head, got it?" The panda slowly nodded. "Go back to sleep and make sure that you're prepared for tomorrow." Po walked back to his tent and disappeared under the tarp. Dead Shot sighed as he glanced over to his left. He casually walked over to two gray odd-shaped rocks. He stopped just in front of them. "I know you're there, Tigress," said Zeng. Slowly, the tiger emerged from the boulders. Her downcast eyes looked at Zeng's heavy weighted ones. "I'm sorry I never told you," He whispered. She thickly swallowed. The struggle in her mind pulled her to either rage or sadness. Tigress stayed stuck between those two, and Zeng picked up on this struggle. There wasn't much he could do, so Zeng, "But you _do_ understand why I couldn't." Tigress nodded. "I'm sorry."

Tigress's voice crackled and broke like fabric slowly tearing. "Please promise me... one thing," she asked. "Promise me that you'll tell me about your stories when this is over."

Dead Shot's eyes widened. His mouth parted in shock for a moment then his bill spread in a wide smile.

"Of course," Zeng said as Tigress knelt down and hugged the duck. "Stay safe. Keep watch over each other. Make sure that you don't listen to Zhao's lies. I'll be back." He backed away from Tigress's embrace and flew into the air. Tigress watched the duck fly into the starlit night, remembering her childhood memories fly through her head into a similar darkness.

* * *

Po slept through the night until he found himself in a weird dream. His eyes opened to see the vacuous green-hued realm of the Spirit World. "Oh man, did I die again?" He mumbled, rubbing his eye.

"No, panda. You're still alive," Said a voice behind him. Po turned and saw the spirit of Oogway. "It's good to see you, Po," Oogway smiled.

"Oogway? What's going on?" Po asked.

Oogway's smile vanished to a serious frown. "I must tell you about Zhao's life," Oogway said. So he told Po all about Zhao.

"Whoa, that's...whoa. That explains everything," Po said.

* * *

The Mongolian army marched at dawn break. Thick clouds above circled around the mountain's top as the fog slowly cleared from their trail. The narrow route only allowed the men to go five in a line. Zhao led the gorillas, tigers, and rhinos down the rocky winding path. Soon they saw the temple courtyard gate insight. The Mung Lu temple had two large courtyards separated by a wall down the middle. Its place on the mountain was more spacious, allowing several men to form in a line. It was probably the widest part of the route. The gray red-roofed building sat facing both of these courtyards with its entryway stairs in the front. The temple had three stories with a large circular five spoked window in the second-floor wall. Zhao stopped his troops just before the first court. "General Zhao, is everything alright?" Asked one of the lieutenant rhinos.

"Send the scouts ahead of us," Zhao ordered, glaring at the dismal mountain. Three small foxes examined the first courtyard site. The huge lot was could hold about a quarter of Zhao's army which was roughly 2,000 strong. The scouts looked at the second courtyard. Still nothing. They walked back to Zhao.

"No one around, General," Said one of the foxes in a salute. The lead tiger glared at the mountain before moving ahead. The entrance to the courtyards had a two-door wooden gate. Zhao ordered the men to open the gate, then a quarter of Zhao's men walked through the first courtyard before they reached the second gate.

"I should just demolish the walls and let the whole army through," The tiger thought to himself, "But then, these bums might grow lazy." Whether or not he was making slaves out of his men is not important.

"Hiya!"

Suddenly, as Zhao's men finally got through the second gate, a loud noise rang throughout the mountainside. Zhao looked behind and saw huge boulders plunging down the mountain. The rockslide wiped out the rear end of his military procession. Then another bang sounded, this time in front of Zhao. He saw large rocks pile up before him, blocking the route down the mountain. Suddenly, both the courtyard gates slammed shut. Zhao and his army were trapped in the two courtyards.

"Zhao! This is as far as you go into China!" Shouted a voice. The tiger's scowling eyes shifted up towards the roof of the Mung Lu temple. Zhao's eyes aimed at a black-cloaked jackrabbit.

"Ah! If it isn't my old student, Zheng-Hau," The tiger grinned wickedly, "How is your little 'army' going? Are they the ones that made the rockslide?"

The jackrabbit held his steady gaze. "Your reign of terror stops here," Zheng-Hau announced, pulling out his dual swords.

"Ha! Ha! Ha! You and what army?" Zhao sneered. Suddenly, the two courtyard gates swung open: Tai-Lung, Viper, and Monkey on the left entrance, and Tigress, Yun, Crane, and Mantis on the right. Po jumped up from the back of the temple onto the roof with Zheng-Hau, wearing his red weapons' cloak.

"Hiya!" Po shouted with a smirk.

Zhao's eyes went wide. "The Dragon Warrior." His eyes darted around as he straightened up and gave an easy smirk. "Zheng-Hau, come now. We know this fight is pointless. I taught you everything you know. No amount of Kung Fu lessons is going to change that." Zheng-Hau lowered his swords as Zhao spoke, "You don't think I heard about your debouched attempt to make an army out of citizens? Do you really think you can defeat me?" Zheng looked at the ground with a defeated look. "Gotcha," Zhao whispered with a grin. Suddenly, Zhao threw a kunai at Zheng-Hau.

"Zheng, watch out!" Yun screamed out. Zheng rose his head and saw the kunai coming. He couldn't move fast enough. He shut his eyes.

_Sssshhooooopp!_

The jackrabbit slowly opened his eyes. Po caught the kunai with his hand, looked at the kunai, and discarded the knife. "So that's what Zeng meant," Po mumbled to himself. Then he shouted to the rest. "LET'S GET THEM!"

**Continued...**


	21. Security

Security

* * *

Zheng threw four kunais into the two courtyards. White smoke exploded and spread over the entire army and courtyard. The others rushed into the smoke cloud. "What do we do?" Zheng-Hau asked the panda.

Po saw Zhao fighting off Viper and Monkey in the smoke. "Get Zhao inside the temple. I'll deal some sense into him," said Po. The jackrabbit nodded and jumped into the fray.

Zhao ducked Monkey's punch and repelled Viper's tail whip attack with his kunai. The blow stunned the viper for a second as she quickly slithered away from Zhao's threatening grasp. "Oo AH!" Zhao spun his head at the primal sound. Monkey smashed both his feet into the tiger's breastplate armor. Zhao tumbled back a few feet but latched onto Monkey's feet. With a quick whirl around, he threw Monkey over the clashing swords and shields.

Viper roped around Zhao's legs, tightening her grip. Struggling to move, the tiger fell with a grunt. The sword in Zhao's hand swung near Viper's head, and she slithered out of the way but released Zhao. Zhao threw a kunai sunk its blade into the tip of Viper's tail. "Ahhh!" yelled the viper as it pinned her to the ground.

Zheng-Hau swung his swords threw the armor of two gorillas. The gorillas groaned in their fall. The hazy white smoke made it difficult to find anyone. To his left sound of pain and sword clashing, not knowing if they are his own or not. Zheng caught sight of Zhao on his feet with one of his dual swords in hand. Viper was still trying to get the kunai off her tail. "Tai-Lung!" Zheng called. The snow leopard backflipped over a rhino and punched it in a series of lightning hits, stunning the rhino. "Tai-Lung!" Tai's head perked up. "Help me get Zhao in the temple!" Tai-Lung and Zheng ran over to the tiger through the grunts and clanging swords. They dodged sneaky arrows aimed at their neck and jumped over falling bodies of soldiers.

"Next time, don't use a smoke kunai. I can't see a bloody thing!" shouted Tai-Lung.

"Shut up and keep moving!" Zheng shot back. As Zhao swung his sword down on Viper, Zheng jumped underneath the sword. The jackrabbit knocked the sword out of Zhao's hand and it flew off, sinking its blade in the ground. Zhao reached for his kunai, but Tai-Lung grabbed the tiger's moving hand and quickly flipped him onto his back.

"Dah!" shouted Zhao.

"Quick! Hold him!" Zheng ordered. Zhao rolled away from Tai-Lung's kick then rolled back to avoid Zheng's falling sword. Zhao jumped up to his feet with his back towards the temple. He saw two kunais fly from Zheng's hand and struck the ground right in front of them. The general darted back as they exploded, flying a few feet away onto his back. The tiger opened his eyes and saw Zheng's sword at his throat and Tai-Lung in his fighting stance.

Zhao smirked, "Well, why don't you both kill me? You look like you want to finish me off."

"Shut up," Zheng-Hau muttered with a stoic face. It wasn't their job to kill him, but the fiery glare in Zheng's eyes burn into the grinning tiger's skull.

Zhao looked at Tai-Lung. "And why are you on their side, Tai-Lung? You have the most to gain out of this fight." Tai-Lung's eyebrow rose with his arms crossed. "Look at the chaos of the battle. It would be a shame if all of your teammates were involved in an accident," the tiger smirked. Zheng-Hau didn't say anything. He kept his eyes focused on Zhao. Zheng's long ears rose up though. The slightest movement from Tai-Lung and he would be ready. "If the Dragon Warrior were to be killed with the rest of them, I wonder who the position would go to." Tai-Lung's eyes darted towards Zheng-Hau. Zheng's eyes glanced to the snow leopard. Was he going to move?

Zhao swept the jackrabbit's feet and jumped up. He would have gotten away if Tigress hadn't struck Zhao in the face with her flying kick.

Tigress glared at the two men. She flashed her sharp teeth at the snow leopard with a growling warning. "Don't tell me you've changed, Tai-Lung," She said, moving her body into a stance.

The snow leopard smugly chuckled, "I didn't." Tai-Lung calmly walked past Tigress and grabbed Zhao's collar of armor. The wide-eyed tiger didn't look confident anymore. The snow leopard spun Zhao around and threw him through the gates of the Mung Lu Temple. Zhao crashed into the wooden doors and into the dark center room of the temple. Tai-Lung dusted off his hands. "I just wanted to see what the whole fuss was about," smirked Tai-Lung. "Now I see why he's so dangerous."

"Why?" Zheng-Hau asked.

"His mouth is his real weapon," replied Tai-Lung. "Who knows? If it weren't for my present state, I would have fallen again."

Tigress crossed her arms as the corners of her mouth pointed down. Zheng's eyes flew between the two felines. His own body on flight or fight, but he couldn't figure out if the two were just doing a tit-for-tat again or actually fighting. Tigress's frown finally spoke to Tai-Lung's grin. "What do you mean by 'present' state?" She rose her eyebrow as the noise of the fight continued on. The snow leopard smirked and ran back into the fray without answering.

Meanwhile, Zhao rubbed his aching head. His chest armor was badly damaged. The tiger ripped off the leather suit, keeping his white weapon's cloak on him. Suddenly, a loud crash of a large rock blocking the exit echoed in the temple. The wheel-shaped window was the only source of light in the large square room, casting everything outside of its rays into darkness. Zhao's eyes squinted. "You're getting old, Zhao," Said a voice. The tiger spun his head around and slowly shifted his eyes back and forth. He knew it was Po talking, but he couldn't see him. "In your hay day, you would have spotted old fat me."

Zhao smirked as he slowly stepped into the ray of light. Because he was in the light, he couldn't see into the dark, but there was an advantage to that. "Please, if you're going to try to use fear against me, you might as well do it properly," He said. Zhao stood right in the center of the light beam. A light confident smile graced his lips as he closed his eyes. A kunai sliced through the air. Zhao effortlessly caught it; It was a rocket kunai. Zhao yanked the cord, pulling Po into the light.

"Uh Oh," muttered the panda. The tiger jumped and kicked Po in the face. Po whirled back to the ground rubbing his face.

"You're not the most coordinated, panda," Zhao replied with a bored sigh.

"Yeah?" Po groaned as he got back up into his fighting pose. "How would you know?" Zhao folded his hands behind his back. He squatted down, extended his leg out, and swept the panda's legs off the ground. "AH!" Po tumbled back to the ground. "Okay, good one."

The light behind him darkened the tiger's facial features. His amber eyes burned bright in the dark while his large silhouette caused the intimidation of the viewer. "I know people very well, panda," said Zhao, "I know that you've never liked yourself as a person. That you've had to struggle to get where you are. To you, this is living your best dream, but you've never had to deal with the sad reality that if it weren't for your 'accidental' arrival," Zhao sniffed the air, "you would still be eating noodles." Po shifted uncomfortably from the tiger. He threw a smoke kunai in front of Zhao letting the smoke billow in the room. The dense fog blinded Zhao's eyes, but his evil grin could still be seen for a brief moment.

The panda rolled and jumped to the high beams. He scanned the ground of smoke, panting hard. "I'm losing time," Po whispered to himself. He checked inside of his cloak and found only one explosive and smoke kunai left. "I don't know if I can do this."

Zhao chuckled, "You know you can't." Po spun his head around and saw Zhao's sword launched back for the swing. Po jumped behind a vertical beam to escape Zhao's sword. As the smoke cleared, Po jumped to the ground and pulled out his dual swords. He stood out of the beam of light while Zhao bounded down as well. "The truth is you're making this strategy up as you go and hoping for the best," The corners of the tiger's lips turned down as his pupils narrowed into slits. "But your silly games won't work on me. Just think, all the power in the world wasted on a pathetic panda like you." They circled around the light poised to attack each other. Po's eyes stayed on him as sweat slid down his face. They stared each other down. Po rolled his shoulders, desperately trying to ease his tense muscles. "You're bad shape, panda," Zhao horribly grinned. "Even if your friends find a way to defeat my entire army, _you_ won't defeat me. You're just a little mistake that's been riding life out. You don't know anything about who you really are."

The silence of the room seemed to punch Po in the chest and weakened his stance. With an evil grin, Zhao darted through the ray of light. His sword swung up to slice Po in half. But then, the room reverbed with Po's laughter.

As Zhao entered the ray of light, his eyes were blinded for a moment. Zhao crossed the light back into the darkness, but Po was gone. Zhao blinkingly looked around. His eyes squinting to adjust to the light. In a flash, metallic clinging noises alarmed the tiger. He ducked to the ground as the shuriken passed his head. "Where are you?" Zhao growled quietly.

"You're pretty talented in words, Zhao," Po said amongst the darkness. "Is that how you bullied your wife into marrying you?" Zhao's eyes shot open.

The tiger's body stiffened as he struggled to use his own voice box correctly. The tension in his shoulders suddenly buckled at a noise. Zhao bolted out of the way of three- "Arrows?" Zhao snapped his head up again. He dashed across the room as another row of arrows pierced the air. Zhao thumped his back against a large beam by the wall of the room. "So you know about that?" Zhao asked coolly.

"I mean, with you it makes sense," Po's voice echoed around the hall. "A happy rich kid who didn't know how to treat his friends." Zhao's eyes scanned the room, carefully listening for the slightest movement. He heard a clang. Zhao lunged towards the sound, only finding a shuriken. "You learned that lying got you a lot in life. It got you fame, power, and you know, stuff."

"You're right," Zhao curtly said though he couldn't help but noise the bored tone of the panda. The tiger slowly hit his back against the wall, looking high and low for Po. Then he heard the panda's laugh.

"But it couldn't get you one thing, a woman," Po said.

"Grrr," The tiger growled loudly. He threw his explosive kunais at the sound's location, but none of them went off. Zhao stood with his sword in front of him as he slowly walked around the room.

"The truth is you didn't care about Zeng until he got a little too close to your sweetheart," Po said in hidden darkness. "You thought the lies you told him would keep him away, but they only pushed him to be awesomer."

"You can't trick me, panda!" Zhao shouted. His chest started heaving heavily. The tiger suddenly caught sight of a black and white figure in the darkness. Zhao lunged after it and tripped over a small cord tied to a rocket kunai. It tangled around his foot and pulled him across the ground. Zhao quickly swung his sword, cutting the rope. He scrambled up and hastily looked for any sign of Po.

"And when it came to love, Zeng made Lu-Su realize that you were forcing her to be with you and forcing her to love you. You hate Zeng because he freed her, and he frees other people from your lies. That's why she left the moment Zheng-Hau left to make his army. Face it, with all the power in the world, all that you have, you'll never have the thing you wanted most out of life: true love and respect. You think you can get it by fear, but you simply use the fear of others to mask your own. And man, that's sick," finished Po. Zhao threw a smoke bomb, covering the room in a blanket of smoke. Po groped his way through the blinding fog.

"YAH!" Zhao swung his sword at Po. It sliced off a large chunk of Po's cloak. The panda jumped back and parried Zhao's sword. The two fought blade to blade. The tiger's burning gritted teeth creased and lined his face. Po gave his own signature irritating grin. They suddenly came into a locked stalemate with their swords. They fiercely pushed against each other. The smoke around them was still thick as they stood in the ray of light.

Po chuckled, "What's wrong? Cat got your-"

"SHUT UP!" Zhao kicked Po onto his back. Zhao swung down, but Po rolled out of the way in time and rebounded to his feet. The panda noticed Zhao's hard panting hard.

"Hehe, I guess you're upset about the truth. I mean," Po paused for a moment. A curl on the edge of his lips with an almost nasty grin foreign to the panda came on his face. "It's not Lu-Su's fault she can't have kids... I mean... with you."

The tiger's eyes went round as his mouth fell. Slowly, his teeth ground together hard to the point they pained his jaw. Every muscle in Zhao's face twisted and contorted into the picture of a truly raging tiger. Zhao opened his mouth to release a deafening roar. "RAHHHHH!"

"Oh boy!" Po yipped. Zhao in a blind rage lashed out on the panda in the thick smoke. Quick flurries of sword swipes swished through the air. Po ducked the tiger's swinging sword left and right. Suddenly, Po parried Zhao's sword away and ran towards the barred exit. "See ya kitty!"

"GET BACK HERE!" Zhao shouted, throwing two explosive kunais at Po. The panda turned around, caught them, and quickly hurled them back. The kunai's sunk their blades into the ground, pinning Zhao to the floor. "NOOOOOO!" The explosive in the kunai ignited. The flammable smoke cloud was set ablaze and expanded like lightning. Po quickly scrambled to the wheel-shaped window as the fire went off. The panda crashed through the window just as the explosion rattled the mountainside and toppled the aged temple onto itself.

* * *

Tigress, Zheng, and Tai-Lung heard the explosion. The collapsing gray walls crumbled with a bang that rang around the mountain. The three sprinted towards the temple. Everything slowed. The clouds of flames burst forth as the Mung temple rumbled down to the ground. A roaring fire blew from the wreck as a tremendous rapid-fire of mini-explosions. "PO!" Tigress screamed.

"Please be okay, please be okay!" panted Zheng-Hau.

"Over there!" Tai-Lung spotted Po face-down on the ground, motionless with wreckage toppled on him. Tigress and Tai-Lung struck the wreckage into pieces with their bare hands while Zheng-Hau pulled Po out.

Tigress knelt to Po's left side, frantically tapping his face with her hand. She spoke softly yet frantically, "Po, wake up. Please wake up!"

The panda slowly opened his eyes and coughed. "Is *Cough* everyone okay?" Po wheezed out.

"Everyone is okay," Tigress reassured, gently stroking his right cheek, "Zeng's reinforcement came in a minute ago. Everyone is safe." Po coughed some more. "Tai-Lung, Zheng, get the rest and make sure the Mongolians don't escape. And tell Mantis to bring aid for Po, Quick!" The two rushed to their duties while Tigress stayed by Po's side.

"Rhaah," The panda groaned, struggling to move. He felt a stinging pain around his spine. "Tigress, my back hurts." After gently lifting him upright, Tigress saw some burned parts on his back. A major hole in his red weapons cloak was burned the whole way through. Zheng mentioned something about a blast shield in the back of the cloaks. If it weren't for that shield, Po's back probably would have been burned completely. None of the burn wounds looked too serious, but she wasn't taking chances. Tigress tore off the remaining pieces of the cloak to construct a kind of mat for Po to rest his injured back on. "Where is Zhao?" Po weakly asked.

Tigress looked at the burning temple. Smoke billowed out like a 1,000-year trapped demon freed from its cage. She rested his head on her lap as she waited for the others. "Gone. He's gone, Po," Tigress said. She heard the panda's weak laugh.

"So are his dumb lies," Po sighed, looking towards his feet where the fire burned. He looked up at Tigress who still gazed down at him. Worry creased her face and damaged her beauty, Po thought. "Hey," The panda's gentle smile shone as his hand rose up to her face. "I'll be alright. It's just a burned back. I've had worse."

Tigress's worry was still written on her face. She clung to Po's torso. "I lost you once, Po. I'm not going to lose you again," Tigress whispered through moistened eyes.

Po softly chuckled as the faint approaching sound of the others filled his ears. "You won't. Trust me, you won't." Po's eyes slowly closed and the noises around him all drifted away into silence.

* * *

For the first five minutes, Po didn't know where he was when he woke up. He simply opened his eyes and saw a brown ceiling like the one in his room. The panda slowly moved his feet and hands. "Ahh, okay, so nothing has been cut off," He grunted to himself.

"I would hope not," said a familiarly gruff voice. Po slowly turned his head. Tai-Lung leaned his back on the wooden wall at the foot of Po's bed. The snow leopard gave the panda his signature smug with crossed his arms. "You gave us a scare, panda. You're lucky that Tigress didn't shake you to death when you fainted."

"Where is she?" Po asked weakly. The snow leopard motioned his head to Po's right. A slumbering tiger in a chair in the corner of the room. Po's head still felt like he was standing on moving water and rested back on the chair. "Ugh, how long was I out?"

"About a day. The kitten refused to leave your side," Tai-Lung sighed, "We couldn't even get her to sleep. So I laced her food with some sleeping powder."

"You what! ARGH!" The pain in Po's back shot up like a thousand needles. Po found white bandages wrapped around his torso and back. Tai-Lung gently helped him back down to a resting position. "Ahh, thanks," Po moaned.

"You're welcome and I had to. If you woke up and she had fainted from exhaustion, you would have... been less than favorable towards us," smirked Tai-Lung. Po grumbled incoherently as he looked at Tigress sleeping. "All of the Mongolians were captured. We recovered Zhao's body from the wreckage."

"Zheng-Hau?"

"He's actually waiting for you to come through in the kitchen. Yun's been cooking to help the bunny settle down," Tai-Lung chuckled. Po squinted his eyes, wondering why the snow leopard was laughing. "I think the vixen likes the bunny."

The panda rolled his eyes. "Do you always have to give people nicknames?"

Tai-Lung narrowed his eyes at Po with a slight frown. "Says the panda that called me Old Spots the moment I exited the Spirit Realm," He reminded. Po weakly chuckled as Tai-Lung took a chair and sat facing Po directly. "Now, given the others will pound you with questions, I think it's best that I should act as your spokesmen," Tai-Lung replied in a serious manner. He was right. "Now, what happened in there?"

* * *

Zheng-Hau and Yun trekked down the steps of the Jade Palace. It was noon, and the two walked in silence for most of the trip. Zheng-Hau sighed heavily, staring at the ground. "Well, that was an intense story. Who would have thought that the old tiger was that messed up? It almost makes me feel bad for him."

Yun rested her hand on the jackrabbit's shoulder. "What happened happened. You can't change it, Zheng-Hau. No matter how much you want to." The vixen jumped a little by the jackrabbit's sudden laugh.

"I said almost, Yun. He's still a jerk and I'm glad he's gone." Zheng-Hau noticed the glare from the vixen face of disapproval. He gulped before speaking again. "But I guess I shouldn't be so vengeful." The vixen's face relaxed. "Out of all of this, I finally get to learn some tips from _the _Dead Shot Duck! I'm so excited!" Zheng-Hau said as they reached the village.

"I'm glad you're finally moving on from a difficult chapter of your life, Zheng-Hau. Now, what are you going to do?" Yun asked as they approached her house.

The jackrabbit shrugged as they stopped in front of her door. "If anything, I think I'm going to get a girlfriend. With everything that's happened, I have no excuse to be scared of rejection." Yun's small smile beamed, but Zheng couldn't tell if she was faking it. "Hey Yun? You wouldn't lie to me by faking a smile, would you?"

Yun's eyes bugged out and shifted back and forth between an unknown spot of ground and him. "Why do you ask?" She inquired. For a split second, Yun's voice was erratic like she couldn't control the pitch of her tone. She couldn't read Zheng-Hau's emotion. His straight even lips and unmoving ears didn't show or convey any kind of feeling. What was he thinking?

Zheng-Hau shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. You're a very quiet, shrewd person. You know how to keep a secret, and you're careful to show your emotions," he explained.

Yun's eyes spoke a gloomy tale. She sighed and stared at the ground. Yun replied while rubbing her left arm, "You have to so you don't get hurt." She paused for a while. "But I think I'm starting to realize that's not always true."

"I guess you're right," Zheng-Hau smiled in a carefree manner. Yun gently smiled back as if her heavy burden had been lifted off... by this quirky jackrabbit. Yun rested her hand on her doorknob just as Zheng-Hau said, "Could I come in with you for a moment?"

"Sure," Yun replied. The jackrabbit walked in as Yun closed the door behind her. "I don't have any food ready right now, but if you-"

Suddenly, Zheng kissed Yun's lips. The vixen, frozen in place, mentally struggled with the feelings surging in her head. Delight and pleasure gripped her chest and played tug o' war with denial and fear. Her eyes widened further than they ever had before. _It can't be happening!_ came the repeated thought, but Zheng's sweet lips told her differently. Yun's eyes softly fluttered shut. Her lips began to move with Zheng-Hau's, deepening the kiss they shared. She wrapped her arms around his neck and released a small gasp as Yun felt Zheng's left arm swoop around her waist, bringing her closer to him. Yun's hands trembled as she brought them up to caress his face. Her whimper at Zheng's withdrawal made him chuckle in a deeper tone. Yun swallowed thickly. Was his voice always that deep? "Food sounds nice," Zheng-Hau smiled warmly.

"H...Wh... why are you... but... you didn't." Yun failed to make words and the words coming out didn't help her at all. Her mutterings showed tangled her brain's state. "But... why?"

"I've always found you attractive, Yun. But I guess I was so caught up with my crush on Lin that... I didn't notice how much you cared for me," Zheng said.

"But...how? You didn't seem interested in me at all!" argued Yun, "When did these feelings happen?"

Zheng-Hau fidgeted, "I guess... I guess around the time we were forming the army. I'll admit, I pitied you because of your personal story. But I started seeing how smart, brave, mature and caring you were to others... and to me. You knew what my real motives were, but you still allowed me to see for myself how much of an idiot I was. You cared for me in ways I don't think Lin ever could."

Yun gazed into the jackrabbit's eyes for a while. Then her eyebrows furrowed and her eyes narrowed. "Then why didn't you make it obvious?" she asked.

Zheng-Hau gave a shy smile as he backed away from Yun an inch. "Well... I knew you were crafty, so I had to play it off like I wasn't interested in you and-"

"So you played with my feelings?" Yun asked, walking towards him. The slightest edge coated her throat, and Zheng could hear it like a gong.

"No, no, I didn't! I just wanted to... surprise you and not seem so... predictable." The thick hot air caused Zheng to sweat as his back hit the opposite wall.

"Ah," said the vixen with widened eyes that soon turned to glaring menacing daggers. "So you used my own crafty analytical nature against me."

"I uh... guess?" Zheng-Hau shakily smiled. He gulped in front of the vixen's face which stood merely three inches away. His heart pounded louder than a booming bass drum. "What... what are you going to do to me?"

Yun grabbed Zheng-Hau's collar. "What I've been wanting to do since the day I met you." She passionately kissed him, moaning as their lips danced on each other.

Meanwhile, Zeng walked into Po's room. He saw Tigress sleeping in the chair and Po sitting at his desk. The panda smiled as he wrote swiftly yet calmly. "You're up," Zeng mentioned with a small smile.

Po stretched his arms as much as he could "Yep, although the burn spots are going to be there for a while," He laughed.

Zeng smiled, "What are you writing?"

"I think I've finally figured out what to put in my book. I think I'll talk about getting to know yourself and facing those... what's the word?

"Insecurities?" Zeng guessed.

"Yeah," Po smiled warmly at the duck, "Insecurities." He went on scribbling on the paper.

"When Tigress wakes up, tell her I'll be in the Hall sweeping," Zeng said. Po looked at him with squinted eyes. "I'm still a servant, Po."

"Hehe, I guess you're right," Po smiled. As Zeng left the room, Po suddenly heard a rustling noise behind him. Tigress slowly stirred in the chair as Po walked over to her. Her frightfully twitching face worried Po. Was she having a nightmare? Po gently placed his hand on her head, petting her.

The twitching slowed to a calm and Tigress's body became still. Her eyes slowly fluttered open. Her vision was blurry and all she could see were patches of white and black. "Po?" She mumbled as her vision gradually cleared. Po smiled as Tigress's eyes widened. "Po!" She jumped from her chair and wrapped her arms around his torso. There was a tug of war in her mind. Would she squeeze him tightly so that he would burst or release him to give him air? The tiger felt Po's arms wrap around her. They gently rocked, barely moving for what seemed like an eternity that they never wanted to end. Tigress withdrew and she smiled. Her eyes glistening.

Po smiled too, but his lips quirked down in a frown. "Why were you so worried?" he asked.

"Huh?" Tigress said.

"I've gone through worse before and I've bounced back. Why were you so worried about this time?"

Tigress blinked several times. She couldn't find a satisfying answer. The thought of Po being hurt was nothing new to her. "I... I don't know." She finally said, resting her head on his shoulder. "I'm just glad you're okay." The warmth of Po's small chuckle made Tigress sigh in contentment.

"I'm just glad that the sleeping powder didn't affect you." The tiger's head jumped up. Glaring at the panda, she heard Po squeakily yelp "Oh no."

"What?" Po quickly explained. Tigress grabbed the tip of her nose. "I'm going to pay Tai-Lung back for this," She muttered. "But please don't hurt yourself like that again, Po."

"And you _can_ hurt yourself?" The pout on Po's mouth contrasted the glare in his eyes.

Tigress huffed in exhaustion. They cared for each other, and there was no point in arguing on that. "Listen, I just... I didn't like seeing you like that. It was like I couldn't do anything and ..." Tigress paused, turning around and rubbing her left arm, "I guess after talking to you about my... self-doubt, I really felt closer to you in a way we haven't before."

Po's eyes blinked as the aroma of Bao filled his nose. Po walked around to look at Tigress's ground focused face. He tenderly lifted her head with his finger and smiled. "And we'll keep getting closer. I'm sorry for worrying you. Despite going through a crazy ton of problems, I think I've gotten to know you a little more." Tigress smiled, wiping her moistened eyes. "Now, let's get some food! I can already smell some Bao being made," Po rubbed his hands with a wide grin. As the panda left the room, Tigress stared at the doorway with a smile and a shake her head as she followed the panda.

**The End?**


	22. Epilogue

Epilogue

**Come on guys, you really think I was going to leave you hanging like that?**

* * *

The days stretched on. Yun and Zheng-Hau tried to keep their relationship a secret, but it seemed no one could keep a secret from Po. "Just don't say anything to the others, please?" Zheng-Hau pled when Po found out.

"Don't worry! If I can keep Zeng's secret, I can keep yours," Po said, pledging on his heart. Of course, Tigress and Tai-Lung sniffed the two out faster than Po could even spread rumors. Yun and Zheng-Hau spent most of their time taking long walks and sparring with each other. Zheng-Hau can't figure out why Yun always seemed to win in their duels.

"I'm going to get you one day, Yun," Zheng would grumble every time. Yun would only smirk. The fox also loved surprising the jackrabbit with heated deep kisses that made him weak-kneed. "Why do you do that?" Zheng would sigh.

"Because I like seeing your cute look of surprise," Yun smiled.

Zeng and Tigress's relationship was healed as well. Zeng often tells Tigress his stories and journeys as Dead Shot Duck. Their favorite place to tell stories was in Po's room where the panda busily wrote down his story. Po believed it made the tiger feel like a young kid again as if her wide-eyed wonder didn't make that obvious. The happy laughter of the tiger would always make the panda smile. A small glance from his paper to the duck and tiger's joyous time filled an unknown place in Po's heart.

But there were other great joys during this time.

One of the weirdest things happened with Tai-Lung. One day, as Tigress, Po, and Tai-Lung were all relaxing after a bandit raid, Zeng came in with a scroll. "Mrs. Lu-Han wanted you to have this, Master Tai-Lung," The duck bowed as he tended to the kitchen. Tai opened the scroll. Tigress and Po saw the snow leopard's eyes widen for some unknown reason. Then Tai-Lung grumbled like he was flustered, and he stood up from his seat.

"I... have to go," Tai-Lung said.

"Why, what's wrong?" Po mumbled with a mouth full of food.

"And who is Mrs. Lu-Han?" Tigress asked. Tai-Lung rubbed the back of his neck and grimaced while he looked to the side. "Are you okay?"

"Lu-Han is a... close friend of mine," replied Tai-Lung. Tigress and Po looked at each other. Something wasn't adding up. Po placed his finger on his chin and looked up at the ceiling. The childish expression caused Tigress to smile.

"If she's a close friend of yours, then why haven't we seen her," Po asked. Tai-Lung's amber eyes burrowed his annoyance of Po into the bear's soul. "I'm just saying," Po said with surrendering hands up, "You typically don't hide your friends... unless they're involved in some mass conspiracy and spooky witch stuff."

"That was just one time!" argued Tai-Lung "And she... she is... shy."

"And she's Tai-Lung's girlfriend," Zeng mumbled as he walked behind the snow leopard.

"ZENG!" Tai-Lung growled loudly.

The duck didn't flinch and was sarcastic in his answer, "Oh no, was I not supposed to know?"

"You weren't supposed to tell!" The snow leopard roared. Zeng shrugged and continued on down the hall. Tai-Lung looked at Tigress and Po. Tigress's wide eyes and slightly open mouth were expected. She didn't really show shock that well.

What Tai-Lung didn't expect was Po's reaction. Po looked at Tai-Lung with an emotionless face: completely blank, only blinking a few times. Po's body didn't even move much and his gaze never wavered from the snow leopard. Tigress spoke first, "Is that what you meant by your 'present' state?" She remembered their talk at the Mung temple.

"Yes, but I didn't want anyone to know yet until it was more... solidified," Tai-Lung explained. The two felines glanced at Po. "Are you okay, panda?"

"I'm fine," Po shrugged, slurping up his food. "I'm glad that you found someone, Tai-Lung." With that, the panda smiled and got up from his seat. "Anyways, I need to get going. Congrats, Tai." He patted Tai-Lung on the shoulder and as he left, Tigress and Tai-Lung looked at each other. Confusion didn't begin to describe their faces. Suddenly, Tai-Lung made a gesture with his head towards Tigress.

"What?" Tigress asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Follow him," Tai-Lung answered.

"Why?"

"He's obviously up to something. Make sure that he's not depressed or something."

Tigress crossed her arms and glared at him. The frown formed by her lips told the snow leopard he messed up with his words. "And why can't you?" she asked.

"I'm not as close with him as you are," replied Tai-Lung. His smug brimmed out as his eyes looked down on Tigress. "Plus, I think this is a moment for _you_."

"Why?" Tai-Lung simply shrugged with his arms crossed. Tigress looked at the entryway behind the snowl leopard. Two forces tugged at her body and kept her paralyzed.

"Besides, he is your friend, right?" Tai-Lung added. It was a simple comment, but it freed Tigress from the hold of one of the forces. She stood up and walked passed Tai-Lung. The snow leopard smirked as he ambled the opposite direction.

Po rested on his bed, looking at the ceiling. A dull low eyelidded look hung on his face. His arms folded behind his head just as he took a heavy sigh. "I was wondering where you were. You're not usually here when you're upset," Tigress said, folding her arms.

Po sighed again as he got up. "I'm not upset." Tigress's face didn't change. "I'm just... confused."

"About what?" Tigress asked, "About Tai-Lung."

"No. Well, yes and definitely no." Tigress rose an eyebrow. "It's just... Tai-Lung is able to find a good relationship with someone despite his record. I'm still single despite my title," Po said with his shoulders sagging.

"You don't want the wrong person, do you?" said Tigress.

"Of course not." Po had an idea of how Tigress would respond. "It's just... I just didn't think it would be this hard."

The two took a long pause. Po's focus was on the floor as the soft paw-steps of Tigress came towards him. She squatted down, looking at his face. "Po, it took a long time for you to learn more things about yourself, right?" The tiger asked.

Po turned his head up. "What do you mean?"

"How to accept yourself, what happened with your parents, who you were as a person. All of these things took time. Maybe the attraction you're seeking is the same way. You can't compare yourself to Tai-Lung since you're two different people," Tigress smiled, resting her hand on his. "Wait, okay?"

Po slowly smiled too. "Thanks, Tigress," The feline nodded, stood back up, turned around, then nearly walked out the door.

But she halted. "By the way, there's been something I've been meaning to ask," She said. Her tone sounded familiar to Po, but he couldn't pick it out. The panda lifted his head, scanning Tigress's back for a while. He wondered what face she was wearing. If he could figure out the face, then he could tell what her intentions were. But she wouldn't turn.

"Okay, wait," Po slowly said. Tigress turned around with half-lidded eyes and a small cocked up smirk. _Oh no,_ Po thought.

"When you were talking about your hidden fear, you mentioned that any girl like me would probably get stolen from you by Tai-Lung."

Po exhaled exasperatedly, "I didn't mean that you would, Tigress. I was just saying someone like you, okay!"

Tigress held her grin, "I know that, but there's something that keeps bugging me. Why does it have to be like me?"

"What?" He wasn't expecting that question.

Tigress simpered widely at the panda's apprehensive look. "Why does the person have to be like me? What's so special about me that I'm the standard that you compare other women?"

Po's eyes shot open while his heart started pounding against his chest. His eyes darted around the room, avoiding Tigress's gaze. "Uh... I urh,... you see it's more of... I think it's... um... I gah! What I mean to say in the circumstances that were present at the time I ah..." The panda hopelessly mumbled his way through as Tigress slowly walked towards him.

"Were you trying to say something, Po?" Tigress raised an amused eyebrow.

Po gulped. "Well," He coughed out, "It's because of I... uh..." Something felt caught in his throat. He tried speaking, but intelligent words would not exit his mouth.

Maybe it was due to his utterances that Tigress had compassion for him or that she was truly worried about Po. In either case, Tigress simply said, "If you're trying to say you like me more than a friend, Po, you just have to say it."

Po's eyes lit up. Tigress's added chuckle relaxed his tension. "Okay," He finally said clearly, "I like you... more than a friend."

"There, was that so hard?"

"Yes!" Po promptly declared. Tigress gave a small endearing smile. She turned around and headed towards the door. "Wait, what does this mean?"

"It means whatever you want it to mean, panda," Tigress said. She looked back over her shoulder. Her cheeky grin was visible to Po, making his heart skipped a bit. "It seems like you have a choice, Po. You can either stay here and be stay locked in your hole of 'what if'."

"Definitely not an option now." Po crossed his arms as he got up. Tigress turned around, crossing her arms and grinning wider. Her mischief was painted all over her face.

"Or, you can step out of your comfort zone and go after what you want that's good. It's your choice."

Po looked at the ground for only a second before moving closer to Tigress. "I think I want to take a chance." He saw the tiger's smile widen. Tigress gave the panda a short kiss on the cheek and a short deep chuckle and turned around.

"I'm glad," She said as **both** of them walk out of Po's room.

**The End**

**Yes, I'm stopping there because most of us know what happens next. Thank you for reading this and enjoying the ride. I'm sorry it was so... thick and philosophical about insecurities, but the main thing is this: If your insecurities are keeping you from doing something you love to do, living a great life, or being in a meaningful relationship (Friendship or romantic), don't be petrified with fear. The pain of failing is better than the pain of never trying. The first is temporary pain, the other is everlasting suffering. **

**Thank you for reading. **


End file.
